Bound to the Heart
by Mugglewriter14
Summary: There was nothing left to do, it was decided, and there was nothing that could have been done in the first place. At the top of the paper in large quilled writing was Marriage Law...
1. Prologue

Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter, however I do own my character's.

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><p><strong>Prologue<strong>

Fingers kneaded temples as eyes shut from frustration.

_How could this be the right thing to do?_

A piece of parchment lay on the grandiose desk. The smell of melting wax hitting his nose, normally a smell that he found to be filled with the promise of a better world, now left his tongue dry at the thought of what was to come.

_ How can they expect that this will go over well, what will the parents say?_

Slumped into his large leather shined chair he opened his eyes slowly looking forward. The room was a morose pallet of shadows and moonlight. The leather on the two couches at the front of the room shimmered in the moon beams, giving the illusion of plasticity. The color leaked from the imported Persian rug that lay beneath the clawed feet of the couches. Two small ornately carved wooden chairs where placed on an angle in front of his desk. The wood was a deep brown, but looked like black color leaching light.

At the tip of his desk sat a golden plaque, it read "Minister of Magic". There was so much that came with that title: honor, respect, the ability to help others with the stroke of a pen. He wished that he could use his power as Minister to change this, but there was no way to get out of it now.

His eyes crept down to the document before him. It was written in fine penmanship, all of the letters written carefully. He felt his anger heat up inside of him. Nostrils flaring he grabbed the handle of the small bowl resting over a small blue flame, and poured its contents. Red wax made up one half of a balloon. He grabbed the stamp that rested to his left and collided it with the wax. And as he lifted fate away, it sealed with its kiss.

The parchment shimmered for a moment, lifting into the air, illuminating the dark office in bands of color. He had seen this before, with other documents. It was a momentous moment where thought became reality. Normally one of the best moments of his job was witnessing this metamorphose from idea to law, now made him feel sick to the stomach to think of what he was doing. The light soon faded as it lowered to the desk, sucking the colors back in to itself. There was nothing left to do, it was decided, and there was nothing that could have been done in the first place. At the top of the paper in large quilled writing was Marriage Law.

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><p>Review<p>

And keep reading, it gets pretty good, if I do say so myself.

MuggleWriter14


	2. Lottie's Letter

Note: Chapters will become longer, I just need to set up the story. Hope that you enjoy this chapter.

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><p><strong>Lottie's Letter<strong>

The Burke family had always been a family with proper ideals. Pureblood ideals. For generations it had been this way, and for many generations it had been a family that was proud. They were proud of their name and who they were, they were proud of the future purebloods and of the past. Past such as the likeness of Elizabeth Burke the former headmistress of Hogwarts.

Their pride came from more than just amazing breeding such as theirs. It also came from traditions. Traditions of Excellence. Like Elizabeth Burke or Caractacus Burke, the founder of Borgin and Burke's shop. And if there was one thing that Charlotte was clear of, it was that she had to be what everyone expected her to be. She needed to be quiet, to speak only when spoken to. She needed to be elegant and refined, at every damn moment of her life. And she needed to marry a pureblood by the age of 18. Otherwise she would never live up to the family legacy.

Her father Cadmus, had never been a death eater, although there was some speculation. Instead he and her mother, Della, had decided to leave the country after there had been rumors of the Dark Lord's return. They had met at Hogwarts their first day of school. Well, they met on the train, where it was love at first sight. From then on the two of them were inseparable. And when they got to a dating age they became a couple overnight. Years past and they kept going strong. When Hogwarts came to an end for them there were rumors of the Dark Lord. So they went to France and bought a villa in Bordaeux.

They lived there until the war was over, severing all contact with the Wizarding community in Britain. When the world rejoiced after the death of the Dark Lord, they rushed back to their home. Already married and independently wealthy, adding to the staggering wealth of the Burke Family.

The reason for their fleeing the country was due to Mordred Burke, her paternal grandfather. Mordred had been a death eater during the First Wizarding War. The Burke family had always held hatred and prejudices against muggles and muggleborns. So when a certain Tom Riddle came to her grandfather asking if he would like to join his army of Death Eater's he readily accepted. Years had passed and nothing really happened. Her grandfather never really received any tasks that did anything other than recruiting until September of 1981. Her grandfather had been summoned by his Lord and was asked to accompany the Lestranges and Fenir Greyback on an important mission. He accepted, and unfortunately he was one of the wizards that had tortured Professor Longbottom's parents to insanity. After his arrest her father at the age of 6 he decided to never leave his children's life.

Somehow, both of her parents continued the Tradition of Excellence, and in 2000 her brother Dominic was born. Nikki was the golden child, he could do no wrong. As the heir to the Burke fortune he had it made. And when he was sorted in to Slytherin their parents had bought him the most expensive broom that they could buy. With his brown hair and blue eyes, he had all of the girls swooning. And when he married Odette Zabini (the daughter of Blaise and Pansy Zabini) her parents couldn't have been prouder. He was everything that a well brought up Pureblood should be.

Then there was Charlotte who was 5 years younger than Dominic. Charlotte, or Lottie to her friends only, was a beauty, as she needed to be to land a respectable husband. With her light strawberry blond hair and bright blue eyes. She was short at 5 foot three on the dot. She was curvaceous and her hair thick reached to the middle of her back. She had been the curveball in her parent's respectable lives.

Because she was a girl she was unable to inherit anything, and because she was the second, she would have been overlooked anyway. She often wasn't paid much attention, but that didn't matter because she would rather not have the attention anyway. She would rather be reading a book, imagining her life as different. A handsome young man to sweep her off of her feet. Where she had a large family that loved her desperately. Such dreams where fantasies. In fact she was sure that as soon as she graduated at the end of this year her parents would force her to marry.

Her parents were not cruel people. Just not warm, well, at least to her. Needless to say she wasn't the warmest back. Only saying pleasantries and polite responses, but you would think that a parent would be more interested in their child's life. Her brother, being an only child for five years resented her coming in to their lives. He didn't like sharing their parent's attention with her, however minimal it may have been. It was obvious that they had never grown close.

So there she sat, in the large library at Burke Manor. Lost in some book. Her legs draped over the side of her favorite chair. Her hair in a messy bun. Wearing a loose Puddlemere United shirt, with a pair of grey pajama shorts and thick white soft socks that where gathered around her ankles. Spotlights shining on the dancing dust motes in the air. She sighed, bored.

_Tap Tap_

She looked up from her book. Startled, her head darting around the room for the source of the noise.

_Tap Tap_

She looked to the window where a large barn owl was sitting on the ledge. She put her book face down on the coffee table. Running as fast as she could on the hardwood flooring with her socks on. She finished her running with a slide. Her fingers touched the silk like paint of the door frame, and pulled up. Letting the bird fly into the room, landing gracefully on the back of her chair.

There was a letter tied to its leg, and she quickly grabbed the letter. The owl waited patiently for its payment. Before even glancing at the letter she walked over to the fireplace mantle and opened a hand painted porcelain jar. Grabbing an owl treat she tossed it in the air. The owl flew off the back of the chair, catching its prize in its mouth and back out the window. She walked back over to the window and closed it, as to not let the summer weather in.

She picked up her letter slowly. It was too soon to hear from Hogwarts, normally the lists came at the beginning of August and it was only July 16th. She glanced at the front of the letter.

_ Ms. Charlotte Burke_

_ Burke Manor, Library_

She opened the letter hesitantly, for whatever reason she was feeling like this was something to be nervous about. Dropping the envelope on the floor. Leaning back in to her comfy chair as she read the short letter.

_Dear Ms. Burke,_

_We would like to extend out congratulations on beginning your final year at Hogwarts School and Witchcraft and Wizardry._

_We hope that you are enjoying your summer, and that you are excited to be returning on September the first._

_We ask that you please respond to this letter with a strand of your own hair enclosed in the return envelope provided. If you wish to send another person, creature, or pet's hair, we will know whether this is your hair, so please refrain from sending a hair other than your own. If you do, however, send someone/thing else's hair we will send you another envelope escorted by a ministry official who will collect your hair sample._

_The purpose of your hair will be made clear once you return to school._

_Thank you for your time,_

_Minerva McGonagall, Headmistress of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry_

_Neville Longbottom, Deputy Headmaster of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry_

_Kingsley Shacklebolt, Minister of Magic_

She reached down to the discarded envelope on the ground, where inside there was a return envelope. How peculiar that they would want a piece of hair. It was a very strange request, a very strange request indeed. But instead of arguing she quickly plucked a strand of hair from her head. Placing it carefully into the envelope. Which sealed closed magically.

She ran quickly to her room where her owl Poseidon (or Donny) awaited in his cage.

"Hey Donny Boy!"

_ Hoot Hoot_, an excited Donny started to get antsy in his cage. Lottie opened the latch and Donny flew out of his enclosure. He swooped around the room, landing on her shoulder.

"I have a letter for you to send."

_ Hoot_, he sounded pleased that his assistance was required.

"You must return this letter to this address."

He took the letter in his beak and she opened the window next to her bed, and Donny was off.

_It was rather peculiar that they asked for a hair_…

But thought of her awaiting book flooded back to her mind, and soon she was back to reading in her comfy chair in the library. Thoughts to the hair aside.

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><p>Thank you for reading this chapter.<p>

Please Review and Follow. Just a simple click should do the trick to receive updates. If you have any questions feel free to ask.

MuggleWriter14


	3. James's Letter

REVIEW and ENJOY,

Thank you to Elizabetch for favoriting my story so early on.

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><p><strong>James's Letter<strong>

There are many traits that could describe James Sirius Potter: smart, handsome, hilarious, all around perfect in every way, and humble. Well, at least if someone asked James what his traits where that is what he would say. Now this wasn't to say that James was a player, because he was not, most of the girls at school board him with their attempts to be more popular, or famous. In fact, James had only had one girlfriend for a week during his third year.

Even if he had no idea how to describe himself, James knew two things. One, that he was awesome, and two, that he was a damn good quidditch player. And as long as he remembered those two things, the world was alright to him. And with his amazingly great large extended family, the Weasley's and his Uncle Dudley and his family, the world was perfect. And to top it all of he had an amazing immediate family.

His father, Harry Potter, or also known as the "boy who lived" defeater of Voldemort, was so cool. As the head of the Auror department at the Ministry his father was a badass hunting down good for nothing ex-death eaters. The best part was that he was very determined to allow his children the proper childhood that he always wanted. So there where many stolen cookies from the cookie jar, and many small gifts that he would bring home after long trips.

His mother was just as amazing as well. After 7 years on the Holly Head Harpies, as one of their most outstanding chasers, she retired and became a sports analyst for the Quibbler. She decided that her time of glory and fame had come to an end when a bouncing bundle of joy known as James came in to his parent's lives. So she quit the big leagues and got a job from Mr. Lovegood. She was an amazing mother, she listened, and knew things about James and his siblings before they even knew it themselves. And most importantly she paid attention, every one deserved to have their mother pay attention to them. That was something James was certain of, it meant everything to have a mother that cared that much.

He loved his parents with all of his heart, and it was clear that James, like his family, was fiercely loyal. He would do anything to protect his parents. They where his everything.

James also had two of the most annoyingly perfect siblings in the world. First was his little brother Al, or Albus Severus Potter. Where Al had inherited their father's eyes, stunning in their own right, James had inherited his Grandpa Potter's Hazel beauties. Al was also shorter and his hair was a bit more unmanageable. But unlike his older brother, Albus Potter was a natural at school. It wasn't as if James wasn't good at school, because he was, he was towards the top of the class. But the difference is that Albus enjoyed school and learning and all of that.

His little sister Lily was the hottest headed girl that anyone where to ever meet. She was a fiery redhead and was proud of it. She made a point to make herself known. She was charismatic and dramatic. And something that everyone learned was that they were never to cross an angry Lily. Because boy did she live up to her mother's name when it came to the Bat Bogey Hex. No one wanted to be on the receiving end of her curses.

Now there where definitely expectations that James had to live up to. As the heir to the Potter fortune, it was his job to carry the torch of the Potter Loins onto the next generation. This meant that at some point he would have to man up and have the balls to get married. James feared the day that this happened. He knew that people saw him as a ticket to the lime light. Who wouldn't with his family, he felt hopless.

So his future was already decided for him. Everything laid out in a perfect scheme. First he would graduate, then he would start a boring job that would grind his nose in to a shredder every day until there would be nothing recognizable left. Then he would marry one of his many adoring fans who excelled at ditzy-ness and how to keep perfectly polished nails from breaking. What every man enjoyed in life. A woman to call his own with no brains and their priorities wrong.

Well, that didn't matter, not like he had a choice. So he put his priorities straight. Live now worry later, because he didn't have all of the time in the world to be happy all of his days. He wanted to live now. So he perfected the carefree attitude that was so widely loved by all.

James currently sat in his room in Godric's Hallow. He sat in his comfiest chair, a pillow on his lap and a wooden board on top of it. His pencil delicately scratched on the paper that rest on the board. His eyebrows creased concentrating on the task at hand. The slow breeze of July air sticking to the back of his neck as it lazily swayed in from the open window. He could hear music faintly in the background, Lily was listening to the radio that Grandpa Weasley had made for her 14th birthday.

Just as a small note to add, after the second war his father decided that it was a perfect place for him and that he wanted to fix up the home that his parents had been killed in. It was a little grotesque, the idea of living where such an atrocity had occurred. But in some ways it was connecting.

It's weird to explain, but James had heard his mum and dad talking in their room when he was young, and as his father said, it was the first place that he was loved. To James that made all of the sense in the world, his father felt that it was a way for him to connect to his parents, it was the only real thing that he had left of the child hood that he was meant to have.

As James concentrated on his drawing, watching as the image of his sleeping Owl, Bertie, in his cage came to life. He could swear that the beak and feathers looked real. Drawing was one of the most amazing things, where you could let your mind wander and let your emotions out. It was one of the few things that he kept to himself. There was no need to share this part of himself with the rest of the world.

All of the sudden there was a large barn owl that charged in to his room. Letter in talons. James leaned over to put the pillow and the board with all of its contents on the floor. He could hear Bertie hooting and making a racket from having his lovely nap interrupted.

"He fella?" _Hoot_, "You gotta letter for me?"

The owl looked at him with its dilated yellow eyes.

_Hoot, Hoot_

"Are you from Hogwarts?" James approached the Owl reaching in to his pocket where he had an Owl biscuit that he was saving for Bertie for when he woke up.

H flattened his hand, biscuit in the center of his palm. He raised his hand close to the Owl's face, quickly taking the letter with the other hand.

The letter had indeed come from Hogwarts and he opened it greedily.

_Dear Mr. Potter,_

_We would like to extend out congratulations on beginning your final year at Hogwarts School and Witchcraft and Wizardry._

_We hope that you are enjoying your summer, and that you are excited to be returning on September the first._

_We ask that you please respond to this letter with a strand of your own hair enclosed in the return envelope provided. If you wish to send another person, creature, or pet's hair, we will know whether this is your hair, so please refrain from sending a hair other than your own. If you do, however, send someone/thing else's hair we will send you another envelope escorted by a ministry official who will collect your hair sample._

_The purpose of your hair will be made clear once you return to school._

_Thank you for your time,_

_Minerva McGonagall, Headmistress of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry_

_Neville Longbottom, Deputy Headmaster of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry_

_Kingsley Shacklebolt, Minister of Magic_

He reached to the top of his dark head and grabbed a strand of hair placing it in the return envelope. Closing the envelope that then sealed itself, he handed it to the Hogwarts barn owl. Who gave him a thankful _Hoot_, and was on its way back to Hogwarts. It was incredibly strange to ask for a hair.

_ Well_, _eh, if they say they need it, they need it, it probably won't affect me, I hope_.

He slumped back in to his chair, letting out a large sigh. Staring out in front of him thinking for a moment, he reached for his pocket were he grabbed his wand and pointed it at Bertie's cage, opening it. The metal clasp door swung open slowly and the beautiful snowy owl jumped out of the cage catching himself mid fall and took to the air. He circled around James's bedroom once and then landed gracefully on the arm of the couch that James had been sitting on earlier.

James walked over and began to pet Bertie, his mind beginning to wander, his imagination working on overtime coming up with different ideas of why they might need a strand of his hair.

"Wonder what it is boy?" James looked straight forward, receiving a hoot from the satisfied bird sitting next to him. He smiled as the bird closed its eyes and leaned in to him. He swore that his affectionate pet was more dog than bird.

James decided that it wasn't worth his time, so he picked up his drawing and continued from memory, his pencil grazing the top of the paper with the greatest eloquence. Thoughts of today's mail already on its way to nonexistence.

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><p>Hope you enjoyed.<br>The next chapter is where things really begin.

COMMENT PLEASE

MuggleWriter14


	4. September 1st

Thank you to: An oceans curse, I Cry My Silver Tears, avaronaknight, and yuki0123 for following and liking my story. If you follow or like your name could appear here.

Here is the next chapter, enjoy, read, review.

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><p><strong>September 1st<strong>

Lottie opened her eyes slowly to the morning light. A smile forming slowly on her lips. Today was September 1st, the day that she got to leave her family and all of the awkwardness she felt around them for a few blissful months.

She pulled back the crisp white covers on her large weathered wood posted bed. She touched her feet to soft fibers of the elegant mixed green area rug that rested under her bed. She walked quickly over to her matching dresser, the feeling of old waxy hardwood underneath her feet. She opened the top drawer. In the center of the drawer was the clothing that she was wearing that day which she had left for herself the night before. She had packed the rest in her white floral patterned trunk, which was lying next to her bed her initials gleaming in gold on the side, matching the gold accents on the corners and latches of the trunk.

She grabbed the clothing and dashed in to her matching attached bathroom. She stripped from her pajamas folding them neatly and dropping them in the hamper next to the door. She went through the rest of her morning routine: shower, hair, makeup, go to the toilet, put on her clothing, run her wrists under cold water to help set her nerves, and finally brush her teeth and spray on her perfume that smelled like pink roses.

She closed the door to her bathroom to look at the floor length mirror on the back of the door. Looking at herself in the mirror she fidgeted with her hair until her strawberry curls fell down in controlled ringlets down her back just the way she liked it. She smoothed her clothing trying to get rid of any wrinkles she could find.

She exited the bathroom, and dashed out of her mint green room, leaving the door open. She walked briskly to the dining room where the rest of her family was sitting. Her father sat at the head of the table reading the Daily Prophet, one of the house elves, Toppy, pouring his morning coffee. Her mother sat, back strait, sipping her morning tea slowly. Her brother and "her", or the perfect daughter in law Odette, where eating their food slowly. They all sat in silence.

She sat down at the table, Toppy walked over to her and placed Lottie's favorite breakfast in front of her. Lottie arched her back and ate slowly.

"Morning Charlotte," her mother placed her tea down and looked at her, "Did you sleep well last night."

"Yes," Lottie replied even toned, she hated how her mother called her Charlotte.

"Are you ready to go back to school?" Her mother looked away and reached for her tea.

"Yes."

"Make sure that you talk to the nice boys in your house." Her mom continued, "Maybe you will end up marrying one of them."

"I'll try mother." Lottie looked down at her plate. This was a common conversation that she had with her mother since she started Hogwarts, especially now that she was approaching the age of 18. And like always her father remained indifferent throughout the exchange.

Lottie sat in silence for the rest of breakfast. When she finished her plate she placed her hands in her lap, kneading her hands. The rest of her family went on to talk about this and that, she really didn't pay attention, but she made sure to look at who was talking and to keep the act of being interested up.

At some point Toppy came to pick up her plate and she felt the elf pat her arm discretely. Lottie gave a quick smile to the elf. Toppy was a sweet heart and had always been the most loving towards her at home. Always sneaking her, her favorite peach tarts. Helping her with her hair when she was little. Reading her stories, and comforting her when she felt sad and alone. She was almost like a mother.

When breakfast was finished her parents bid her a goodbye, telling her that they would see her at the holiday and gave her curt hugs, short and to the point. Her sister-in-law just gave her a nod and walked away, probably to the drawing room where she worked on her needle point. After that Nikki and she took the floo.

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They had flood to Borgin and Burke's shop. A place that her family still owned and refused to sell based on the perspective that it was Burke family history and should remain the way it always had. They walked through Diagon Alley, until they reached the barrier to muggle London. They walked through the barrier, and grabbed a Taxi. Placing her trunk in the trunk they hopped in to the car and drove to King's Cross Station. They reached the station and lugged her trunk out of the trunk of the car and in to the station where they found a cart as quick as they could. With a brisk pace they walked to the platforms and on to Platform 9 ¾ where there where many Wizard family's making their way through the pillar as inconspicuously as they possible could. He left her at the barrier to the Hogwarts platform.

Nikki needed to get to work, he was already running late as it was, so he bid her a quick goodbye, skipping the hug and walked away. She watched as he strode off to the apparition point where he would apparate to the family office in Diagon Alley. She looked back to the pillar between platform's 9 and 10 and walked towards it. She walked through the barrier, the vile smells of King's Cross station forced a smile, and she loved this platform when it meant that she was leaving.

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She disposed of her luggage at the luggage car and weaved through the crowd of hugging people to find her friends. She craned her head, stretching her whole self to look through the crowds as best she could. She walked through steam clouds from the train, where students rushed with luggage, sometimes bigger than the actual student to the luggage cart. Mother's refusing to let go of their children. Friends hugging as if they hadn't seen each other for years. The platform was so filled with life that she couldn't help but keep the smile that nestled in to her cheeks.

"Lottie?" She heard a squeal. Lottie turned to see two girls with smiles a mile wide.

"Hey Soph!" she ran to the girl that had squealed and threw her arms around her in a hug, the girl was a few inches taller than Lottie, and had long dark brown hair, olive skin and dark brown eyes.

"Missed you shortcake." Lottie smiled and pulled back.

"And what about me?" Lottie hugged the other girl, who was a little taller than the first. This girl had long blond hair and light blue eyes.

"Don't think I could forget about you Jackie."

They ended their hug, and the three girls walked hand in hand to the train, weaving through the crowd once again. They reached an entrance to one of the cars and got on, finding an empty compartment quickly.

"So what have you two been up to?" She asked to the two girls.

"I went to Italy to visit my mum's family." Sophia replied as they took their seats. Lottie slumped on one side of the benches and Jacqueline and Sophia on the other.

"Was it fun?" asked Jacqueline.

"Yeah, my brother was annoying, he kept going on and on about some stars that he wanted to see while we were visiting, annoying little boy he is, and my cousin just had a baby. That puts the cousin count at like 26."

Sophia came from a large Italian family, she had two older sisters: one was 21 and the other was 19. She also had a younger brother who was 10, and already obsessed with astronomy. And one of the largest extended families in the world. Lottie swore that every other day Sophia was announcing that this cousin got married, or this one got pregnant, or this one was engaged, or this one gave birth. It was a lot to keep up with. But they all loved each other, Lottie wished that her family was like that.

She looked to Jacqueline. "How was your holiday?"

"Fine, I just stayed at home and helped my sister take care of my grandma. She's started to wander in to the neighbors flower beds."

"Is she ok?" Lottie asked, her eyes wide.

"Yeah, she's a nutter, but I think the fact that the neighbors are annoyed to be returning her to us at like three in the morning is the largest problem."

Jacqueline's parents had died during her fourth year in a car crash, and even though it was an upset, it wasn't that horrible. Because she had her older sister Nettie who was already 24, the result of a teenage pregnancy, so Nettie became the legal guardian to her sister who was away most of the year so it worked well. Then last year their grandma had come to stay with them because she was deemed unfit to live on her own.

"How was yours Lottie?" Sophia asked her.

"The usual, I read, avoided, and read some more. My mum keeps dropping hints about me getting married at the end of the year to one of the pureblood Slytherins, I think they are in the making of a deal and want me to be on my best behavior so as to encourage the family to request me."

"They're awful, I'm so glad that I don't have parents that talk about stuff like that." Sophia shuddered.

"Yeah, it sounds downright awful. What are you going to do if you need to get married?" Jaqueline asked.

"I have no idea, and can we please stop talking about this I have had enough of this conversation with my mother, and enough worry of who I am going to end up with."

"Sure," Sophia said quickly, "Did you hear about Sturgis Turner getting caught with drugs while on tour for his new concert?"

"No," stated Jacqueline.

"Please explain." Lottie stated a smile forming on her lips, and soon they were off on another topic.

The girls sat and talked for hours, catching up and gossiping. When the trolly came around they all got a little something to tide them over till the feast. Soon they were an hour away from Hogwarts, when their compartment door was opened by Bonnie Parker, the spunky Gryffindor Head Girl, told them that it was about time that they turned in to their robes.

The girls grabbed their things quickly and ran to the girls changing car, where there where private stalls and mirrors for changing. Lottie entered an empty stall and discarded her clothes folding them and putting them in the basket next to the door. She waved her wand over it, as the instructions over the basket instructed and said her name. Her clothes disappeared to wherever they went for the house elves to return to her room.

She pulled on her robes. And looked in the mirror as she fidgeted with her hair. Once she felt that her hair satisfied her standard she stepped back to look in the mirror. She rubbed her hands over her uniform, smoothing it out.

She left the changing car and started to walk back to her compartment, she was always the last one to finish getting ready. She walked as fast as she could, almost bumping in to someone several times.

Then it hit her, literally.

_Thud. _She had landed on her butt as someone came barging out of their compartment. She sat disoriented for a moment. It felt like she hit a mountain.

"Oh, shit," She rubbed her head as she heard the deep voice of the person that she had walked in to. "I, oh blimey, I'm so sorry."

Lottie lifted her blue eyes up to the person that she had crashed in to. It was James Potter. She opened her mouth to say something, but nothing came out. It was bloody James Potter, who hated all Slytherins and made a point to prank their great hall table more than was necessary.

"James, who are you-" A boy with sandy blond hair who she knew to be David Willis, James's best friend and another Gryffindor peeked his head out of their compartment. Lottie felt her cheeks go red.

"Do you need help up?" James reached his hand out to her. Lottie looked at his hand, unable to speak and hesitant to accept the offer. He decided for her. James pulled her up, easily.

"I am so sorry I wasn't looking where I was going, can you ever forgive me." Lottie stood frozen, unable to respond, her nerves going haywire, she felt like collapsing.

"James, do you think she can speak?" David asked.

"Does James think who can speak?" And that's when Fred Weasley, who was a 6th year, joined the party and noticed Lottie, a few other people looking out at the scene from behind him, she looked away too soon to recognize who they were. "Oh, hi Burke."

"I have to go," Lottie pushed past James, her heart beating wildly, she didn't know why she was so nervous anyway, probably because she was so embarrassed that she hadn't been looking. Maybe because it was James stinking Potter. She could hear him and his buddies in the background faintly.

"So much for a thank you," James grumbled. "Just like those Slytherins, never being thankful for other people's help."

"You knocked her over." David snapped back.

James muttered something, and that is when Lottie found her compartment and slipped inside as quickly as she could.

She stood at the door, and breathed in deeply. _In and out_. She looked at her two best friends, both dressed in their Ravenclaw uniforms. Sophia was reading a book, and Jacqueline was knitting something, which was one of Jacqueline's favorite past times.

"Oh, hey Lottie." Sophia said looking up from her book. "You alright?"

Lottie nodded with her eyes closed. By this point Jacqueline had looked up and was now walking over to Lottie to help her sit down.

"Here sit down nice and easy." Lottie was guided down to one of the benches.

"Lottie what happened?" Sophia asked, now sitting on the floor her hands on Lottie's knees as Jacqueline sat down next to her.

"Just got startled." Lottie said, regaining her composure. "I crashed in to Potter and landed on my butt, I was too shocked to do anything but stare. Then because I was so shocked I started getting nervous, and well, you know the rest…"

"Ok, well, that's better than-" Jacqueline started to speak, "Well than you know what."

Lottie felt her jaw tense and her heart beat wildly. Sophia noticed her and rubbed her knee in a comforting manor.

"Anything is better than that." Sophia said matter of fact.

The girls soon resumed their normal talking, and when the train stopped they got off together and headed to the carriages. When the carriage was full it pulled forward. Lottie stared out the window, just as mesmerized by the castle like the first time she saw it. The carriage halted to a stop at the grand entrance to the castle.

The girls got out, and walked through the open elegant archway. Following the crowd to the great hall. The three girls chatted in whispered voices all of the way there.

Once at their destination they separated. Sophia and Jacqueline heading towards the Ravenclaw table, and Lottie heading towards the Slytherin table where Luciana Crabbe and Persephone Zabini already sat gossiping, running their fingers through their long brown hair. When they saw her they eyed her with looks that could kill, and turned back to each other and continued talking. Lottie hated those girls so much, they were so vapid and bitchy, it wasn't that hard to figure out why her only friends where Jackie and Soph.

Lottie looked down at her hands, bored and began to rub them, her nervous habit. Soon the tables where filled and the First Years where sorted. McGonagall gave her speech which was normal, except for the end when she asked all 7th years to stay behind for a quick announcement after the feast. Lottie immediately started to wonder what it could be about.

But all thought of the announcement left her mind as the food appeared. After she had eaten their fill, and all of the students had been dismissed, Lottie and the Seventh Years made their way to the front of the room. The Professors sat at their table, with looks of sadness in their eyes. Headmistress McGonagall stood up.

"Students, students." She got their attention. "All of you may be wondering why I have called you here when I know that most of you would like to be getting back to your dorms to sleep off the gross amount of food you have consumed tonight."

She received a few chuckles at the last part.

"Well, I would like to start out by saying that I have called you here for a very important reason. The ministry, or more accurately the Wizengamot has made a new law." Her voice faltered slightly at the end.

"How does this affect us lot?" A Hufflepuff in the back called out.

"Well Mr. Montoya, it is a new law that directly impacts all of your futures. There's no beating around the Whomping Willow, so, it's a Marriage Law."

There was gasping and whisperings, Lottie couldn't believe it, the Ministry was forcing them to marry.

"The law states that any Witch or Wizard between the ages of 17 and 35 are required to get married by May 25th of this year, and meet all other requirements set by the Ministry. This means that from now on the Ministry will be selecting your intended."

"Why, can't they let us chose who we marry?" A girl in Gryffindor spoke up.

"I am so sorry, but your partner's have already been selected. The hair that you sent in was used to determine who your match would be. I am sure that you all have a lot of questions." She looked out over the 7th years, "This law is unfair and there is nothing that can be done, but more will be explained in the morning. I leave you tonight with my sincerest apologies that this right was taken from you. Goodnight."

And then she left, Headmistress McGonagall left. Leaving all of the students' flabbergasted. Lottie left swiftly, making her way down to the Slytherin common room. She rushed to her room and threw herself on to her bed. Her mind so filled with questions and worries that she didn't even bother to change before she fell asleep.

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><p>Dun Dun Dunnnn... Now their fates have been sealed with a kiss.<p>

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	5. Involuntarily Conscripted

Sorry for the wait...

Here is the next chapter, I hope all of you enjoy it...

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><p><strong>Involuntarily Conscripted<strong>

Early morning light seeped in lazily from the window in to the Gryffindor 7th year boys' dormitory where there lay slow even breathing boys. The world and all its problems not yet rearing their ugly heads. In the bed to the right of the window was a boy who was 17, his head pressing in to the pillow. His hazel eyes opened slowly with the now steady flow of light in to the room. James propped himself up in his bed. He looked around the room where there were four other four-poster beds with red hangings and red blankets, their occupants still asleep.

James took in a deep breath and sighed, the memories of the previous night flooding back to him. It was shocking, to say the least. He couldn't even fathom the idea properly. He wished that he could remain in his extra soft bed and plush covers, without the world asking any more of him than to just lay there and sleep. But his world was not his own, that was for sure. So he pushed back his covers, and swiveled with like a snail to the edge of his bed, placing his feet on the stone floor. He shivered a bit when the cold came in to contact with his foot, but pushed forward anyway, getting out of bed and walking over to the bed to the left of the window. Where the sleeping form in the bed appeared to be sprawled out, taking as much space on the bed that he could.

James woke up all of the other boys in the room, and after taking a quick shower he got dressed and went down to the common room to wait for his friends. He sat on one of the red plush couches his bag sat next to his knee. He grabbed a piece of parchment from his bag and took out one of his pencils and began to doodle.

"James?" He looked up to see David, who was tall with blonde hair and blue eyes walking towards him. The other Gryffindor 7th years following suit.

"Ready to face the world?" Patrick Finnegan, who was an average height with a stocky build and reddish in tone curls that fell over his face, said in as an upbeat tone as he could.

"Ready as I'll ever be." James sighed as he crammed his paper and pencil in to his bag and hoisted it over his shoulder.

Together the five boys walked through the common room together and out of the portrait hole. They took their regular route to the great hall. Taking twists and turns and stairs and long hallways. Mostly to avoid certain portraits, who were either too annoying to bear or disliked the Gryffindor lads too much, and also to wake themselves up. It was an unspoken rule that they all believed that walking an extra few steps in the morning helped to wake them up. Of course they had never talked about such a thing, but no one ever protested the extra walking in the morning. It also gave the boys a chance to talk in the morning before they parted ways and went to class. However, this morning there was not a lot of chit chat, instead the boys walked in

"What do you boys think about the new law?" David asked, after a long period of silence.

"Well, I think that it's completely bonkers to force us to marry so young." Anthony Chambers, the boy stood an inch taller than Patrick and had dark skin and hair that was cut extremely short. "I mean, who do they think they are, bloody matchmakers?"

"Well obviously they act like we have nothing better to do than to get married." Michael Rogers, was slightly shorter than James and had dark hair and was the son of Padma Patil and her husband who was a muggle (his dad had told James that his mother and he had gone to school together in his day).

"Just what I wanted to do, get married at 18, you know it was on my bucket list." James smiled, trying hard to make a joke.

"Hardy, har, har, James." David punched him lightly in the shoulder, earning a few snickers from their other companions. They walked in to the great hall and headed for the Gryffindor table.

"All joking aside, I think that it's just silly, we're children for crying out loud." James stated as he took his seat, and dished his plate up for breakfast. "And how do they know if they are picking the right person for us if we can't choose the right person for us."

"You're right, James." Anthony took a bite of his toast and continued. "It screams bad reality television all over it."

"Tele-what?" Patrick asked, Anthony was a muggle born so he often forgot that he was not talking to experts on all things muggle.

"A muggle box that plays pictures on it." He added in quickly. Patrick made an O with his mouth.

"Good morning Gents." The heard Fred Weasley bellow as he walked over towards the group. He grandiosely sat down next to Michael, and helped himself to some food. "So what did McGonagall want you lot for last night anyway?"

"Why do you ask?" James eyed his cousin who was currently spreading some huckleberry jam on his toast.

"Well, being a 6th year I wasn't allowed to listen, and being, well…myself, I am just a curious bastard." He took a big bite of his now prepared toast and almost was able to place the entire thing inside his mouth.

"Well, Fred, it seems that all of us are getting married." Patrick stated, as Fred began to choke on his food.

"How the bloody hell in Merlin's soggy pants did that happen?" Fred whaled out as he regained his breath. Earning a few glares from other students at the table trying to enjoy their morning meal.

"Apparently the Ministry has control of our personal lives." James looked down to his food, that he had surprisingly not been hungry for.

"So that means that they have decided to marry us off. Don't know what for though." David said, looking down at his plate as well.

"Bwoulldie woddon itz atz wut pey ur." Patrick said with his mouth full of food, at least his appetite wasn't hindered by this new development in his life, like the rest of his peers seemed to be.

"What?" Anthony said as the group of boys looked at him with funny looks on their faces. Patrick swallowed the food in his mouth, and smiled.

"Bloody sodding gits, that's what they are." Patrick's comment received a few snorts from the group.

The rest of breakfast was uneventful, they sat and ate and talked a little. But it didn't feel the same. It didn't feel right to sit and joke and have fun when their basic right of falling in love before marriage was taken away. Sure they would probably get over it, hopefully, but the wound felt too new. James only hoped that he would like his partner enough to be at least a little happy in his marriage, he would, after all, be bound to this person for the rest of his life. It would be a right shame if he was miserable for the rest of forever.

Soon breakfast was drawing to a close, and the boys watched as the other students received their time tables from their heads of houses. There where students crowding and passing the small sheets of paper around to other people.

_I wonder why we haven't received our time tables yet?_

James pushed his food around his plate when Professor Longbottom came around and handed Fred his time table. James had a feeling there was a reason that the 7th years weren't getting their time tables yet. And as soon as Headmistress McGonagall got up to announce that all 7th years where to report to a specific classroom on the first floor to receive their schedules he was assured of his assertions. And soon breakfast was over, and the boys where all standing to leave.

"See all of you lads later, and tell me the details." Fred smiled mischievously as he began to walk away backwards. "I expect a full report."

"Fred?" James lunged for his cousin's arm. Grabbing it slightly to stop him before he got to far away. "Can you get all of the family together in the common room tonight? I should tell them before they find it out from someone else."

"Don't worry," Fred smiled. "Consider it a done deal mate."

"Thanks."

After Fred left, the boys made their way to the classroom. It was one of the few classrooms that where off of the garden that rested underneath the clock tower. It had a door facing the quad and large windows that allowed for someone to peer inside if they were sitting in the outside space.

The large wooden doors where open and there were other students in their year filing in. The boys walked in silently to see that there was a lecture space with plush chairs that where in rows like a muggle cinema. They were a deep red and where raised on platforms the farther you went back. The doors opened at the highest level and the boys found some seats near the Gryffindor girls in the middle rows.

In the front of the room there was a chalkboard with the words Welcome written in cursive with white chalk. Headmistress McGonagall stood with an unlikely guest to her right. The Minister of Magic himself. The big guy, Kingsley Shacklebolt. The two of them stood looking forward. James noticed that Minister Shacklebolt would allow his eyes to wander but never rest on the students filing in before him. The look on the Minister's face looked forced, like this had never been his idea. It probably wasn't, from what he heard from his dad, Minister Shacklebolt was a great thinker and believed in every one having their individual rights.

"Now, now," McGonagall tapped her wand on the podium in front of her, getting the students attention once all of them had arrived. "Welcome all of you, we hope that you all cooperate with us for the rest of the day, you will not be resuming classes until tomorrow, due to this new development."

There were some whisperings in the crowd, most likely excited for the fact that there would be no lessons until the next day. James, however, would rather have been in classes than have to sit through this.

"Last night all of you were informed about the new law regarding your futures." McGonagall stepped forward to the front of the room. "Now, this law was pushed forward by the Wizangamot during the beginning of the summer. The law states that you are required to marry your assigned partner by the 25th of May, which was made clear in last night's announcement. Inability to comply with all terms set by the Ministry will result in the confiscation and subsequent breaking of your wand with direct sentencing to Azkaban."

James groaned, this was even bleaker for him than he originally thought. He saw David slink back in to his chair from the corner of his eyes.

"Now," Minister Shacklebolt stepped forward, "The selection of your prospective partner's has not been taken lightly. The hair that was provided at the beginning of the summer holidays was used to determine your correct match."

He paused, a look of contemplation on his face as he determined what he should say next. There were some murmurs in the audience. _The perfect match for us, hah, that's just bullshit_. James thought to himself.

"Your match was determined with a new spell that has been developed by the Department of Mysteries. It works kind of like a pensive, except that it doesn't show you memories, it reads your deepest desires and the purest parts of your soul, it then produces slips of paper from the pensive with two names on the slip. Trust me this was not taken lightly."

"Minister?" A brown haired Ravenclaw sitting next to the pureblood he bumped in to on the train raised her hand to be called on.

"Yes, miss—" Minister Shacklebolt turned to her.

"Well, I was just wondering why the Ministry is insisting on this law being put in to effect?"

"To answer your question, it is because of the Second Wizarding War. The casualties sustained in the war where devastating to our population. The Ministry decided at the time that the veterans of the war had been put through enough, and that the population would bounce back with the now free world that we lived in. However, the bounce back in population that was hoped for never came, so now the Ministry has decided that it is time to fix the population problem. With imposing this marriage law there were some clauses written in to the legislation that requires a child to either be born or in the process of creation by the first anniversary of the couple, unless there are extenuating circumstances."

"Oh," the girl looked down at her feet. He watched as the pureblood started to kneed her hands together, her eyes moving down to the ground, glancing u every once in a while.

After the Minister and Headmistress finished their speeches about this law and answered several more questions, they informed the seventh years that they would be required to return to this room later that evening to receive their matches. The nice part was that they were given the rest of the day off, so James grabbed his things as quickly as he could and he dashed out of the classroom. He needed to be alone, it was too much to process. Not only would he be married before the age of 20, but he would be expected to be a father before then as well. It was crazy. He made his way to the library and strode through the large open doors and through the winding book cases until he reached the back of the library, where there was a window seat nestled near a tall bookcase. He sat down and pulled out the drawings he had been waiting for earlier.

He sat and drew for hours, getting out all of the frustration and tension that the last two days had caused. When the sun started to become brighter, James glanced at his gold watched that he had received last year on his birthday. He noticed that it was time for him to go, groaning he put his drawings away that now lay sprawled around him. He lifted his bag on to his shoulder and meandered back to the classroom. He saw David and Patrick standing by the door, talking.

"James," Patrick addressed him as he approached the two boys.

"Hey Pat, hey David," James ran a hand through his short messy dark brown hair.

"Ready?" David slapped James's back, and the three of them walked in.

Anthony and Michael where already sitting down, and the trio took seats right by them again. James took his bag off still sitting in his seat and slid the messenger bag behind his calves. He began to bounce his knee as he sat there and waited for the rest of his year to make their appearance to the classroom. James slumped in to his seat and watched people as they filed in. Somehow, when the pureblood girl from Slytherin walked in with her two Ravenclaw friends, he found himself allowing his eyes to follow her. He had to admit that he kind of felt bad for knocking in to her yesterday. Her response perplexed him, how embarrassed and nervous she had looked. James found himself slightly intrigued by her response to the incident. It wasn't a response that James would have expected to come from someone like her. James was watching her so much that he didn't notice that professor McGonagall had walked to the front of the room. Stacks of letters on the teacher's desk behind her, the Minister of Magic sitting behind the stacks.

"Now, it is time for all of you to receive your letters stating who you are going to be matched to. I will be calling you up in alphabetical order. Do not open your letters until everyone else has received their letter. Anderson, Edmund"

A Hufflepuff got up and walked to the front of the room, taking the letter that was handed to him by the Minister.

"Barker, Jacqueline." The blond Ravenclaw that was friends with the pureblood walked to the front of the room.

James watched as everyone got up to get their letters, James getting up and taking his letter when his name was called. Sitting back down in his seat. The letter felt heavy in his hands. And he found himself playing with the seal of the letter. Finally the last person was called and they were allowed to open their letters.

James opened his, his breath shaking in his ribcage. His eyes scanned his letter, as the breath that had been fighting to be let loose caught in his throat. His eyes turning to her... His fate had been sealed…

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	6. Reality's Engagement

Thank you to those of you who reviewed keep it up please.

For those of you now following thank you for your support.

I'm sorry for the long wait. Hopefully Waiting will decrease between posts, I've recently started College and I have had a lot of adjusting to do, but now I'm feeling more adjusted and feel good now that I feel like im not so overwhelmed that I can't write.

Hope you enjoy...

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><p><span>Reality's Engagement<span>

Lottie's hands shook as she carefully pealed back the seal on her letter. She bit her lip as the flap of the envelope popped up, ready for her to view its contents. She bit her lip and slid out the letter, letting the envelope fall to the ground as she unfolded the trifold slip of parchment. She closed her eyes for a second and took in a breath, mustering the courage to look at the parchment in her hands. She opened her eyes slowly and looked down, reading the black handwritten inked letters.

_Dear Ms. Burke,_

_ This letter contains the name of your future intended, who according to section one clause A of the Marriage Law you are required to marry before the date of May 25__th__ 2022. If there is a failure to meet this deadline you will hereby be stripped of your wand and sentenced to a life term in Azkaban without trial._

_ The Marriage Law also requires that you and your spouse have a child or are in the process of having a child by your first anniversary. Exception to this clause will only be granted if there is adequate proof that you and your partner are unable to produce said child._

_ The Ministry would like to at this time inform you that we did not take the decision of who you would be marrying lightly. It took much time of thinking and working to determine who would work for each other._

_ Your match has been made to __**James Sirius Potter**__, we ask that you comply to all terms of this new law with no difficulty._

_ Sincerely,_

_ Ernie MacMillan_

_ Secretary and Bookkeeper for the Wizagnamot _

Lottie felt her breath catch in her throat, Potter, of all the people it had to be James Potter. It was as if the world was laughing at her. She felt herself zone out through the rest of the session. McGonagall and the Minister where talking about different aspects of the law, answering questions that various students in her year where asking. She vaguely listened to the bit about moving in to a different section on the grounds where there were cottages and a set of shops being set up for them.

However, no matter how hard she worked on listening to what was being spoken she could not stop the worries and thoughts flying in to her mind, tormenting her conscience. She was so locked in to her mind that she almost missed McGonagall asking that all of the students take the evening to become acquainted with one another.

Soon Lottie noticed that people were beginning to get up and leave. She got up slowly and grabbed her bag. Her eyes searched for Potter in the crowd. Finding him fairly quickly, he was sitting a few rows behind her. He was watching her, she wondered how long he had been staring, probably in disgust, it was, after all it was common knowledge that he thought people like her where not the best of the lot.

"Lottie?" Jackie looked at her worried, "Are you okay, who's your partner?"

"I—I'm fine, you know what, I'll see you later," She looked up at Jackie and smiled lightly. "I just need some air."

"Oh, okay, let me know if you need to talk, kay?"

"Kay."

She hoisted her bag on to her shoulder and walked out of the room, her eyes on the ground. She found herself running across the courtyard to the lawn. It was almost like flying, how fast she made her way to the edge of the black lake. She stopped at the edge of the water, staring out at the mountains that set behind the glass tipped water that reflected the pink and oranges of the setting sun. She felt her bag slip from her shoulder, and heard the soft thud it made as it hit the green grass.

She was heaving breaths her French manicured nails where digging in to the palm of her hand. She felt her eyes burning and she knew that she was holding back tears. Scanning the horizon she was looking for a sign anything that it was going to be alright. But no matter how hard she looked all she could picture was her dreams being ripped away from her too soon. She expected the end of the year, but not when she had just left home.

It was not fair.

"You know, drowning yourself won't help you here." A deep voice behind her said, her voice caught in her throat, whipping her head around her strawberry blond hair landing on her right shoulder. Standing behind her was James Potter with his hands in his pockets.

"Wh—what?" Her voice almost a whisper. He took a few steps forward, and even from a few feet away she could tell that he was at least a foot taller than her.

"What I said was that drowning wouldn't get you out of this situation, it would mean giving everything up." He took another step closer to her. "You don't seem like a person who would want to give everything up."

"Wh—who said I was going to drown myself?" She felt her confidence gaining, she now moved her hands to her hips. "For your information, I like to think out here. It's always quiet and no one likes to come out to the edge of the lake, they're probably too scared of the giant squid."

"And you're not?" A smirk now played on his lips.

"No, I have bigger problems than over grown guppies."

"Like what?" He was now only a few inches away from her, and he was staring down at her.

"My problems are none of your concern, and I should be going, so goodbye." She grabbed her bag and scooched around him. She took a few strides before she felt a hand grab her left wrist.

"Look, I'm sorry, I'm being a prat." He looked earnestly at her. It was sort of off putting. Potter was never like this with Slytherins. She stood there frozen. Rooted to where she stood, she wished that she could pull her arm out of his grasp and run away. But for some unknown reason she was incapable of moving. She kept her eyes trained on to the ground hoping that she would not have to face Potter. "Can you look at me please?"

"Why should I?" Her lips pursed.

"Because," She didn't know why but for some reason it seemed like it was enough reason for her. She turned her eyes timidly towards his pained voice. Blue met Hazel and she saw the corner of his mouth turn up.

"See that was not so hard was it?" A toothy grin now enveloping his entire being. He instinctually ran a hand through his already messy dark brown hair. His hazel eyes staring at her with mirth.

"Why are you talking to me?" Lottie bit the inside of her cheek.

"Because we're stuck together for the rest of life." James said looking down at the ground, "And at some point we will have to talk."

"That's not a reason to talk to me." She pulled her arm from his large hand.

"Well, then, what do you want, for me to just marry you and then avoid you unless I'm fucking you so we can fill the blasted quota?" His smile long gone now turned in to a snarl.

"At least we wouldn't be two year old's playing house. And at least I would not feel like I was still living a lie. It would be real."

She stormed away furiously. How dare he try to toy with her emotions, she was now sure of one thing that James Potter was a ginormous prat. He just wanted a decent fuck and now that he was stuck to her he needed to be on her good side. Why her? The world must have a death wish against her. When her parents heard about it they would be more than angry.

Her lungs burned as she ran back to the castle. Her mind racing like the moon as it chased the sun. Her anger welling up inside of her, threatening to breakdown the concrete dam she had built up over the years. How could years of dealing with other people's insults help to make her stronger as a person and a few words from that git of a man tear her down in this way?

She flew down to the dungeons, praying that Persephone and Luciana were not in their room. All she wanted to be was alone. And once she reached the entrance to the Slytherin Common Room she choked out the password and pushed past the door quickly as she blurred to her dorm room and hauled herself on to her bed and pulled the curtains. She pulled her knees to her chest and let the cracks in the figurative dam figuratively break letting all of the welled emotion it was protecting flood out.

It felt silly to be crying over the hideous behavior of Potter, but she could not help it. He picked at a sore spot. She knew that she had never had a choice over her future to begin with but that did not change the ache in her heart for having all of her deepest dreams being stolen away.

After spending the next several hours with her arms linked around her legs she gained control of her emotions. Leaning over the side of her bed she grabbed for her satchel. Lifting it to the bed she dug around at the bottom of her bag. She pulled out all of the parchment pieces that she had received from the Headmistress and Minister.

Luckily for her there was a pamphlet titled "_Marriage Law Explanations and Dates."_

She opened and began to read. There was everything in the pamphlet from why the marriage law existed to all of the requirements expected of the Marriage Law participants. First was that they married their assigned partner by May 25th, the next was that the couples plan the weddings for the date that they would select. Then right after the couple got married they had until midnight the next night to consummate the marriage without the use of protection. Apparently this law was in order to address the small wizarding population which had never recovered since the war.

She found out that she would be staying in new dormitories that they, her and Potter, would share, and when school was over they would be moving into a new wizarding community that the ministry was trying to start. And by the timeline that was listed in the pamphlet it appeared that she would have to be pregnant or have already had carried and given birth to her first child by their second anniversary.

Lottie sighed in defeat, she would be a mother by the age of 21. It wasn't like she had never known that she would have to have children at a young age, but like earlier she felt like her whole world was coming to a stop.

She decided to get ready for bed, so she went about her routine, making sure to add in running her wrists under cold water so that she would be able to fall asleep.

She pulled back the covers and slipped in to her green silk sheets, and pulled the silver comforter around her. She felt relieved that she had decided to skip dinner, so that she wouldn't have to see the awful Slytherin girls. She flipped off the lights with her wand and with a swish and flick her emerald green bed hangings pulled around her bed. She then placed her wand in its holder on the right hand bed post.

Fluffing her pillow she allowed for her head to plop down. She closed her eyes and prayed for sleep to come. And before the temporary abyss of sleep and dreams pulled her in she found herself thinking that in only a few months she would no longer be Charlotte Elizabeth Burke but Charlotte Elizabeth Potter… God help her…

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	7. You're What?

**Thanks to all of you for being patient and for the reviews I got from everyone.**

**I hope that you enjoy this chapter.**

**And sorry for the long wait...**

You're What?

James watched as his…fiancée…stormed off. He would be lying if he said he did not feel a little bad about what had happened. But she had started it right? She was the one that wondered why he was talking to her. Fine if she was going to act like that then there was no reason for him to be Mr. Nice Guy. Why should he be the one to try to make things work?

The ministry must be crazy, a Gryffindor and a Slytherin. Ha, the whole idea was laughable in James's opinion. What made it worse was that since she was a Burke it must have meant that her entire family was Death Eaters.

Great, he could see the tabloids now, "Potter son to marry Death Eater's Daughter". Why was this happening to him? He thought that he at least had to the end of this year to be a happy carefree guy. And now he was being saddled with the very responsibility that he hated.

James looked down at the ground and huffed. And the worst part was is that she seemed like a spoiled brat who always got her way. What a shitty way to start a year.

Before James turned to leave however, something on the grass caught his attention. It was a book. Well, more importantly it was a muggle book, Pride and Prejudice. It couldn't have been hers could it? That made no sense, Slytherin pureblood families where all the same. Well, maybe Scorpius Malfoy, but his mother had been a Ravenclaw and subsequently so was Scorp.

He picked up the book, he might as well give it back to her if it was hers. That was the right thing to do. And as the son of Harry Potter it was his job to do what was right. He loathed the idea of talking to her again. Maybe he would hold onto this book for a while. It couldn't hurt to read it. Lily was constantly going on and on about the author. Jane Austen, whoever that was.

He picked up the book and tossed it in the air, catching it in the other hand. He looked up to the castle, the sun had started to set and dinner would probably be starting soon. He didn't feel much like having dinner. So instead he decided to go back to Gryffindor tower to read some of this book. And if he got hungry he could just go to the kitchens later.

James walked leisurely up to the castle. Reaching the doors in about 5 minutes, good time for a walk from the edge of the lake. He walked twistingly through the corridors taking his time to get back to the tower. His thoughts rattling in his brain. After a while of walking he made it to the portrait hole.

"Password?" The Fat Lady asked.

"Cassiopeia" He mumbled. And the portrait swung backwards in to the short tunnel to the Gryffindor common room.

He plopped down in one of the squishy chairs by the fire and swung his bag down in between his feet and opened Burke's book.

On the inside cover there was her name in an elegant swoopy cursive. He looked at it for a few moments wondering what her name would look like when her name said Potter instead of Burke. Charlotte Potter, well at least it didn't sound hideous.

He turned to the title page next, where he realized that she had written something down. However it was too smudged for him to make out. So instead he turned the soft page and began to read.

"_It is a truth universally acknowledged, that a single man in possession of a good fortune must be in want of a wife…"_

Soon he found himself invested in the book, turning each page with heightened interest. He had no idea how much time had passed, but he assumed maybe an hour or so because the portrait door swung open and the happy chitter chatter of Gryffindor House could soon be heard in the common room.

"James, mate?" Michael walked over to him, the rest of his friends and family after him, breaking from the crowd of students heading up to their perspective dorms.

"Hey guys, how was dinner?" James looked up from the book and watched as everyone sat down around the fire.

"It was great-" Patrick started to say.

"Jamie," Lily piped in. "Why weren't you at dinner?"

"Just didn't feel hungry."

"What's wrong man, you're always hungry?" Al stated flatly looking concerned at his brother.

In total there where fourteen people that had sat around the fire, excluding himself. Ten of which made up his family: Albus, Lily, Fred, Roxanne, Molly, Lucy, Louis, Dominique, Rose and Hugo. The rest of the people there where all of his mates: David, Anthony, Michael, and Patrick.

"I guess with all that's happened today I just don't really have an appetite." James shrugged his shoulders.

"What happened today?" Molly (his Uncle Percy's eldest daughter, a 5th year) asked.

"We got our matches for the marriage law today." Anthony filled in quickly.

"Marriage Law?" Hugo looked puzzled, "I heard the rumors, but I thought that they were a bunch of bull?"

"Well, they aren't." James said absolutely.

"What James means is that we are being forced into a marriage law so that the British wizarding community can come back to what it was before the war." David said as he sat down in the chair next to James's.

All of the sudden there was a chorus of "how could they" and "this must be illegal".

"That's enough." Rose stood up abruptly, "Okay, we all know that there is a new marriage law and that only people who are 17 and older are being paired up. Now, all of you should shut it so that we can let the guys explain."

"Thank you Rose," Anthony said, "to explain further, the law states that we all must get married before the 25th of May and that we need to have offspring within the next few years."

"That's bleak man, that's bleak." Roxanne shook her head.

"Well, who are the lucky ladies?" Fred wiggled his eyebrows, which rewarded him with a smack upside the head from Dom who was sitting next to Fred on the back of the couch.

"Well," Everyone turned to Patrick who had clearly decided to go first. "I'm paired with Karla VanHumback."

"Oh is she the pretty Gryffindor who is always hanging with the 7th years from Hufflepuff?" Lucy questioned.

"Yeah that's her, I'm just glad that I actually had been planning to ask her to the first Homemade trip. This is just saving time I guess."

"I'm paired with Callie McFarlan, I think she's a Hufflepuff." Michael said offhandedly.

"I got Tiffany Roberts, I know she is in Hufflepuff. She's always so cheerful."

"Anthony, just because someone's is always cheerful and happy doesn't mean they are automatically in Hufflepuff. But you're right, she is in Hufflepuff." Rose scolded.

"I'm paired up with Sophia Hughes, Ravenclaw." David smiled, "She's smoking" David and Patrick high fived each other.

"Who did you get James?" Lily asked reading her brother, it was obvious that she could tell that there was something wrong. However instead of leaving it alone like most people would, she always dove head first and asked the one question that was bothering someone.

"Yeah, James who is it." I bet it was that weird girl in Ravenclaw that smells like cauliflower." Fred snickered.

"Fred Weasley, stop being an insensitive prat!" Dom proceeded to slap him again.

"Come on James, we all said who we got." Patrick egged. "Although I could see your hesitation, I bet it was the giant squid or one of the house elves" Everyone started to chuckle

"I got Charlotte Burke." James frowned, "She's Slytherin and a Pureblood."

Everyone stopped laughing abruptly. A few of his cousins had their mouths hanging open. Rose, Lily and Dom looked at him with sympathy. While Al, Louis, David and Anthony sat their wide eyed. Then of course there where the ones who didn't understand what the problem was (i.e. Lucy, who was only a second year and still thought of dating as icky).

"You got Burke?" Fred asked confused. "You mean the tiny strawberry blonde girl that you knocked over on the train Burke? The girl who looked frightened Burke? The—"

"Okay, okay they get it!" James's voice began to raise.

"James, she isn't that bad, I mean, isn't she the only Slytherin in our year that hangs out with anybody but Slytherins?" Michael asked.

"Yeah that's got to count for something." Louis added in.

"Well, she seemed pretty angry when I tried to talk to her today. She even yelled at me. I mean who does she think she is? The queen of everything?" James spurted out. As he was talking though, Rose's eyes began to narrow.

"And James, I'm wondering what you said to her that made her yell at you?"

"Well I might have said something," James looked sheepishly down at his feet. "But it wasn't my fault I tried to be nice but she said she didn't want to play house. She wanted something real and I just snapped. I tried being nice but she just threw it back in my—"

"James, did it ever occur to you that this might be harder for her than for you?" Dom crossed her arms.

"How can it be harder for her? I'm the one that's got to marry her."

"Godric James, she has to marry you too. And for your information. Unlike your family which will accept her with open arms, even if she might not realize it yet. Hers might decide to disown her." Dom argued. Earning her supporting nods from Lily, Roxy, Louis, Rose, and Al.

James looked down at his shoes defeated.

"I didn't think of it that way."

"Of course you didn't James." Rose said. "That's okay, you never needed to think like that. You have never had to worry about who you married. And to be honest I would have been surprised if you had a conversation with her and hadn't said something stupid. To be honest you're not the best at thinking things through rationally."

"Rose is right," Lily piped in, "and I know that I'm not the best at that either being mum's daughter and all. But at least apologize to her, if not because you are sorry, then to make her feel more comfortable. Merlin knows how her family is going to react."

"I know I need to apologize." James sighed. "I just don't like apologizing that's all."

"We know mate." David patted his hand on James's back.

"You're as stubborn as a mule." Patrick smiled.

"And just think of it this way," Fred started to talk "Marriage is full of compromises and learning that the woman is always right, so it's one compromise down and about a million more to go."

"Shut up Fred, don't be an idiot." Molly said disapproving.

"I'll apologize tomorrow. Not to mention I need to give this back to her." He said raising the old worn book.

"Wait that's hers?" Rose asked excitedly. "She has excellent taste. It's pride and Prejudice."

"Isn't that a muggle book?" Fred asked.

"Yes, she must really like it if it's that worn in." Molly smiled.

"Okay well, if that's all then I'm going to bed. I just need some more time alone." James stood up and maneuvered his way through the crowd. "Night everyone."

He walked up to the seventh year boy's dorm and walked over to his large bed by the window. He quickly changed for bed and whispered knox to turn off all of the lights. For a while he lay in the dark. He thought about pride and prejudice and the way Burke had written her name. He thought about how angry she had been and how he was dreading having to apologize. He knew he was wrong but admitting it to himself and admitting it to the world was something else. Maybe he should give her something. Or maybe he should wait for a while until she trusted him. And just before the sleep pulled him under he thought that maybe being with her wouldn't be so bad, maybe it would work after all. But wishing was for suckers so he decided then and there to just let what happens happen.

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**MuggleWriter14**


	8. Wandering in Marble

**Hey Y'all, I am updating today. And I am so excited for you guys to read this chapter. And I would like to say thank you to everyone that reviewed and favorited/followed this story since the last update.**

**I would also like to say Happy Birthday to my dad, he turns 52 today and I am excited for him. He is the best, and I honestly wouldn't be where I am today without him. He is one of the reasons that I got into Architecture and he is one of the reasons that I am happily pursuing my dreams. Thank you daddy. I love you! I dedicate this chapter to him.**

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><p>Wondering in Marble<p>

Her eyes fluttered open. Arms stretching out and around to touch her headboard. Sighing she looked at the early morning light streams seeping through her bed's curtains. She pulled herself into a sitting position, and reached her hands towards the ceiling.

Opening the curtains she lightly touched her feet to the floor and began to flit around the room, doing her routine as the spawns of darkness; aka Luciana and Persephone, slept like sinking rocks. Heavy and sinking deep into their subconscious.

She darted into the bathroom, turning on the shower, leaving it hot. She slipped in to the steaming water and reveled in the feeling of warmth enveloping her, releasing her muscles and undoing the tension that collected in her shoulders. After finishing her shower she wrapped a towel around her torso and secured it. She moved to the mirror, and brushed through her hair with a comb, removing all of the tangles and snarls that had graced her hair, then, taking her wand she dried it magically, and smiled as her hair went from looking like a stringy wet mess to curly. Rubbing a little Sleekeazy's Hair Potion, so that it got that nice ringlet look.

She then pulled her hair back in to a half pony tail. She had potions today and she didn't want to let her hair completely free so that it wouldn't get into her cauldron as easily. She then lined her eyes lightly with some mascara and eyeliner, and finished by putting on some chap stick to finish her make up.

She walked back into the bedroom as Crabbe and Zabini where waking up groaning and mumbling that it was too early to get up and that the school was unreasonable to think that they should be ready for class so early in the morning. Lottie pulled on her neatly folded uniform and put on her leather shined t-strap heels and pulled her knee socks up. She dashed back to the bathroom and began to adjust and fidget, finishing her pristine look. And to top off her morning routine, she ran her wrists under cold water, sighing in content as she felt relief at being ready for the day.

Grabbing her bag she decided to head to breakfast early and read some of her book before classes started. When she was a ways away from the Slytherin common room and on her way to the great hall she reached in to her bag where she had put her book.

She felt around for a while. Nothing, absolutely nothing. She started to become nervous as she walked looking into her open bag searching for her beloved book. The present that Toppy had scrimped and saved for, with the wages that her parents were required to give her by Dobby's Law, and given her for Christmas her first year at Hogwarts. It was second hand and worn in, but it was the most thoughtful gift she had ever received. It couldn't be gone.

Without warning and for the second time that week Lottie collided with something hard and tall. But before she could fall she felt a strong arm wrap around her waist. Looking up from her bag she gasped as she saw Potter, again. _What—how? Again?_ The words raced through her mind.

"You okay." He asked her as she regained her balance.

"I'm fine." She huffed, her eyes narrowing at Potter. "Now, thank you for your help, but if you excuse me, I need to go locate something important that I lost." She sidestepped him and began to walk away.

"Wait, is this the thing you lost." She turned around to see Potter pull out her book. Her look of annoyance turning to shock she took the book from his outstretched arm.

"Y—yes. This is my book. How—"

"You dropped it by the lake yesterday. I thought it looked important so I decided to return it to you." He smirked triumphantly, "And I think I deserve a thank you."

"You want a thank you for doing the proper thing?" Lottie slipped the book into her bag and placed her hands on her hips. "You do realize that I was going to thank you, but it is presumptuous to request praise for something that you should be doing anyway, right?"

"uughh?" James started to get nervous and confused. "Well, I could have left it by the black lake, and assuming how close it was to the edge, it would have been gone b morning given that there must have been changes in the tide."

"Well, well, well, my night in shining armor." Lottie stated sarcastically. "It must have been so difficult for you to do the right thing." She frowned and folded her arms.

"I—" James started.

"I don't want to hear it. You are such a jerk and I don't want to deal with you right now, so if you excuse me I am going to go get some toast and jam and read some of my book. Good day." Just as she was about to leave James took a chance.

"Look, I'm sorry for how I acted." James looked down at the floor ashamed. "I know this must be hard for you, and I realize now that I had no right to say the things I said yesterday. Look, I'm rubbish at apologies, probably the worst there is. So if you don't mind. I would like to ask if we could, I don't know, start over. Maybe eventually we could be friends?" James looked up to see an astonished look on her face.

"Well," She straitened her back and reached her hand out. "I suppose so, thank you for the apology, and for the record it wasn't that bad of an apology. My brother is a million times worse than that."

And then she did something that even surprised her. She smiled. And not one of the fake smiles she had grown accustomed to showing, except to Toppy, Soph and Jackie. It was a genuine smile. And she realized that James smiled back, well smirked back. She guessed she would have to get used to his constant smirking.

"Glad you accepted the apology." He shaked her hand. "And to get the ball rolling, Hello, I'm James Sirius Potter, my friends call me James, I'm captain of the Quidditch team, I play Chaser, and I have an Owl that I named Bertie, after my favorite candy Bertie and Bott's Every Flavor Beans."

"Hello James," She couldn't help but smile wider. Maybe it wouldn't be as bad as she thought. "I'm Charlotte Burke, but you can call me Lottie, Charlotte feels stuck up to me. I am afraid of heights so I don't play quidditch, but if I could play I would have loved to be a seeker. And my Owl's name is Poseidon, but I call him Donny, if only to peeve my parents off."

"Well, _Lottie_" James stopped shaking her hand. "Do you care if I go to breakfast with you?"

"Not at all."

They walked down the hallway and after a few awkward seconds of silence they began to talk to one another. And Lottie couldn't help but have a feeling deep down that talking to him somehow felt right. Now whether or not she would admit that to herself was another story. But at least she knew that she might be making a new friend. After getting to the great hall, James said good bye so that he could go sit with his friends and family at the Gryffindor table. And Lottie walked over to the Ravenclaw table, where she plopped down next to Jackie and Soph who had both stopped eating and where watching her in confusion as Lottie began to butter her toast and spread jam on the bread.

Lottie finished getting her food ready and pulled the toast up to her lips to take a bite, however, before she could take a bite, she looked up to her friends.

"What?"

"Did you just walk in here laughing with James Potter?" Soph proded.

"Yes." Lottie said hesitantly.

"And you guys were getting along?" Jackie pushed.

"Yes." Lottie put her toast down and looked at her friends.

"Wait," Jackie's eyes went wide. While Soph sat still confused looking. "Are you paired to Potter?"

"Yes." Lottie responded, her voice going up as she finished talking.

"So you're going to be Potter's wife and have Potter's babies?" Jackie stated more than questioned.

"Yes. And before you say anything, he has already been a prick, and I actually told him off, which is surprising, and then this morning I bumped into him again and we called a truce. So for now things are cop esthetic."

"Wait, you lost me at paired with Potter." Soph interrupted.

"Keep up Soph, we've gotta live up to our Ravenclaw name." Jackie smirked at Soph.

"Okay, fine, fine, I'll try to keep up. Anywhoo, so you guys are good now?" Soph rested her chin on her hand, leaning over her plate.

"Well, I don't think that we are the best of friends yet, but we certainly are going to try to be nice to each other." Lottie shrugged and smiled finally taking a bite of her breakfast.

"Nice, at least you've talked you you're partner. I haven't even talked to him ever." Soph sighed.

"Who's your partner Soph?" Jackie asked.

"David Willis, Gryffindor, and I think he is the blonde in Potter's entourage." Soph said as the three of them looked to the Gryffindor table where the 7th year boys where currently laughing and joking around, a couple of girls sitting next to them where shaking their heads disapprovingly, but it looked like they were smiling too, so they must have been joking about something stupid. "What 'bout you Jack?"

"Well, I've got Corey Schmidt, he's the Hufflepuff Keeper, and has been my partner in Potions for the last few years."

"Wait, it can't be the guy that you've been crushing on since fifth year, is it." Lottie asked, as Jackie smiled and nodded her head vigourouly.

"Nice," Soph high fived Jackie, "you hit it right on the mark then."

"Yep." Jackie squealed. "I'm just happy that I have a perfect excuse to talk to him about something that is not about how many times to stir the cauldron or how much goat spleen to chop and sprinkle into a bubbling mixture."

"Congratz Jackie, you're so lucky." Lottie smiled and gave her friend a hug. "And just remember, when you have like thirty babies, both Soh and I expect to be the godmothers."

"Ha ha very funny." Jackie spooned some eggs into her mouth and swallowed. "And has it ever been a question as to who would be the godmothers to my thirty children?"

"No it hasn't." Lottie smiled.

"Hey Lottie?" Lottie whipped her head around to see Potter and his "entourage" as Soph had so lightly put it standing behind her. "We have double potions in like twenty minutes, want to walk to the dungeons with us?"

"Sure, let me just grab my bag." Lottie got up and gathered her things, she said a quick goodbye to her friends and told them that she would be meeting them later for lunch and study hall. And then she left, walking with the Gryffindor boys to the dungeons.

On her way there she was introduced to all of them: David, Anthony, Mike, and Patrick. She was also told that she would officially be meeting the Weasley/Potter Clan within the next few days, seeing as they were trying hard to restrain themselves but they were getting antsy to meet her. James even told her that he would let her know where and when to go to meet everyone.

And, honestly it was different. Walking with the boys at least to class. They joked and horsed around. And there was so much life and fun in an activity as simple as going to class that she couldn't help but to laugh at the jokes and to smile. It was the first time she had ever felt free. It was strange and different, how there could be so much laughter and joy.

And when she got to the potions classroom, before she could go sulk over to sit by herself with the other Slytherins, David and Patrick had picked her up and carried her over to the empty stool by their group. Setting her on the stool the each gave her a kiss on the cheek and joked with Potter about how they were stealing his partner.

"Why thank you boys I'm flattered that you think that highly of me." She giggled, as James playfully scowled.

When class started she was paired with Anthony for the year, and she found that for the first time she actually enjoyed potions class. She had always like the making of potions part, but she was always stuck with someone she hated from her own house. And now that she was with one of James's friends, she was actually enjoying the working together part of making the potions.

All in all she was really surprised and happy. If being partners with Potter would mean people that she actually enjoyed being around, and this feeling of freedom of confinement was a constant. Then bring it on. For the first time in her life she was looking forward to the future, and even if she was a little scared, at least she now knew that this was much better than any fate she would have been destined to without the new marriage law. And for once the future looked bright.

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><p><strong>Review, Follow, Favorite.<strong>

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**MuggleWriter14**


	9. Lessons and Introductions

Sorry to everyone for the long break in updates. I am studying architecture in school and I am currently taking a weedout course. So the workload is huge. I also had spring break. Can anyone say San Francisco, It was amazing. But that's beside the point. I have also had some writers block, but finally I decided to just give up trying to plan the plot so specifically and let the story goes where it needs to go.

Thank you to the people who have reviewed my story. It was all positive and I am so happy that so many people like it. That is the reason I write, to get people to have fun reading a story.

I would like to dedicate this chapter to my late grandfather, who us grandkids affectionately called Papa Jordy. He died 5 years ago last Saturday three hours after his 50th wedding anniversary ended. We all loved him and he was one of the best people I had the good fortune to know. He was always telling us kids to dream big, and to never give up. Thanks Papa for the support and I hope that you know that I love you and miss you wherever you might be.

And here it is, the long awaited 9th chapter...

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><p><strong>Lessons and Introductions<strong>

"Alright, as all of you know there are no saved spots on this team. Everyone has to earn a spot."

James was standing on the quidditch pitch, dressed and ready to go. Today was tryouts for the Gryffindor quidditch team. His broom in one hand and the ball trunk next to his left foot shaking and jerking. Waiting for something to jump out.

"Now, I don't want any disagreements on my decisions. The final line up will be announced at the end of tryouts. If you are asked to leave before then, please leave. Last year a few individuals failed to leave the pitch and delayed tryouts. As you can see now, none of them were allowed back. Any questions?"

"Yeah, are we gonna fly or what Potter?" Fred shouted from the back earning some cheers from his other friends."

"Yeah, let's do this, chasers first."

A group of ten or so people stepped forward. A few of which had played last year, and a few of which looked like they had barely gotten off of their training broom.

"Now, it's simple. You're gonna scrimmage, five on five. And I want you to try and score points on the other team. I will split them fairly, and remember that scoring points doesn't necessarily matter. I'm looking for certain qualities."

The group was split and there was scrimmaging, and James watched with the utmost attention. Quickly ruling out possible candidates, finally he came down to three people. Anthony and Dom would be his fellow chasers and a fourth year named Jake Summerby would be the reserve.

Next came the beaters, and before it was two minutes into their tryouts he knew that the beaters would be Fred and Patrick, they were the best at what they did no questions asked. The reserve beater was the hardest to decide, ultimately he chose a third year named Milo Dunridge.

Keeper was also an easy pick, clearly David was the best choice, and for the reserve spot he went with Lily. She was good, but even with all of the training she did this summer, she still had a hard time with trick shots, something that she would be ready for next year. And finally seeker came, after a lot of thinking and watching he decided that the best choice was a third year named Millie Adams, and that her reserve would be Lucy, who was a second year.

James announced the team and told them when practice would be, every day at 6 a.m., which earned more than a few groans. At least they had Saturdays and Sundays off. Well, unless there was a game.

Anyways, James went to the locker-room and showered down and changed back into normal clothes. He walked back to the castle carrying his broom. It was a few hours until dinner, and after that would be the first class for seventh years regarding the marriage law. Not to mention that he was also going to introduce her to the Weasley/Potter family afterwards. They had been riding his ass about introducing them to her.

And James was nervous. He had no idea what to expect. Sure, he and Lottie got along fine right now, but talking about his future was more than a little scary. When he finally got back to the common room he finished his homework for the weekend, seeing as it was Friday. Dinner finally rolled around and he went down to the great hall with his friends.

They sat down in their usual spots, and dug in, some of them a little more vigorously than others. They were boys for god's sake.

"Hey, mind if we join you guys?" Lottie walked up from behind him with her two Ravenclaw friends.

"Not at all." James patted the seat next to him and Lottie sat down and immediately started filling her plate. At least she had an appetite, so many girls refused to eat. And in James's opinion, if a girl wasn't afraid to eat then it meant that she had a personality worth getting to know. He hadn't realized however that he had been staring at her for a few seconds longer than what he had originally intended. He could hear in the background David introducing himself to Sophia Hughes his partner. But James was too busy watching Lottie. It was so interesting how her hair curled down her back and how she had it half up today. He decided he liked it.

"James?" Lottie was laughing, he almost missed Fred's question.

"Huh? Oh, hi Fred." James's attention was snapped back to reality.

"Are you going to introduce me to your new friend?" Fred winked at Lottie and she giggled. James couldn't help but feel a small fire start in his heart. She should be giggling with him.

"Oh, yeah." James put his arm around Lottie, who turned and raised an eyebrow at him. "Freddie, this is Lottie, the future Mrs. Potter. And Lottie this is Fred. My cousin, he's the, well, he's the Fred of the family."

Lottie turned to Fred and it was clear to see her pureblood society manners kicking in.

"Nice to make your acquaintance Fred." She reached out her hand, instead of shaking it however. Fred leaned over the table and gave her a kiss on the cheek. A look of surprise spread on her face. And the beginnings of a look of jealousy on James's.

"Welcome to the family Lottie. Or as you will now be known to me, Charlie. James told me your name was Charlotte and since I am James's favorite cousin I reserve the right to have a nickname for you that is wholly my own."

"Charlie? Well alright then. It works for me." Lottie smiled. Taking a few more bites of her food.

"Huh, you know in all the years that we have known you, calling you Charlie never came to mind." Her friend Jacqueline inquired.

"So James, when are you gonna introduce her to the rest of the family?" Fred asked as he piled a mountain of food onto his plate.

"Uhm, I was hoping tonight if that was cool with you Lottie?" James asked her.

"Sure, after class, that works with me. As long as I make it back to the dungeons without being caught I think I'll be good." Lottie smiled at him.

"Great, it's settled tonight you will meet the Weasley Potters part one. We can save the rest of the family for the holidays."

The rest of dinner was filled with laughter and jokes, and before they knew it, Sophia, or Sophie as everyone was officially calling her was announcing it was time for them to go. The seventh years made their way to their new class.

When they finally entered their classroom, James looked around. There where desks set up in a circle. On each desk where two name cards. Realizing that there was assigned seating the group split up to go find their name cards. Lottie led the way to their table and they sat down.

"So, I wonder what we are going to be doing in this class." Lottie broke the silence.

"I have no idea." James turned in his seat so that he could face her. "But it definitely something that has to do with the marriage law."

"Of course it does James. Otherwise the name of the class would be different," Lottie crossed her arms over her chest and gave him a smirk. James had to admit that she was pretty when she smirked, he liked it. And he noticed that his hand reached up to brush through his hair. "I bet their going to do some team building stuff and maybe get us into some planning stuff."

"Probably. I wonder what who is gonna teach this class. It could be one of the teacher's but I wonder if any of them are actually married?"

"James, it's not like teachers don't get married. In fact I bet most of them are, it's not like we students are their life. Well at least for all of them. I am pretty sure McGonagall isn't married. And probably professor Binns, I don't think anyone would want to marry him ghost or not." At that the two of them started to laugh. Lottie looked away, surveying the room as her laughter began to die down.

"So—"James started to talk.

"Oh my Merlin, why is she giving me the look of death." Lottie spoke up.

"Who?" James asked surprised, Lottie was one of the nicest people he had met, he couldn't think of anyone who would be mad at her.

"Persephone Zabini. She is giving me the death glare." Her eyes narrowed.

"I know that she's a bitch but why is she so mad at you?" James asked now looking at Zabini, who was indeed glaring at Lottie.

"I don't know, her and Luciana Crabbe have been like that with me ever since first year. We're in the same house though and everything. Honestly they're the reason I had to find friends in other houses." Lottie sighed uncrossing her arms and slumped into her chair.

"Well, you don't need them anyway, their just a bunch of—"

"Welcome to Life class, a class for those of you who are affected by the Marriage Law, my name is Undine Plunkett, but you can all call me Professor Plunkett." A perky witch in periwinkle robes burst into the room. And for the second time, James had been cut off.

Lottie sat up in her chair, straightened her back. James chuckled silently to himself. Even if he had only known her for a few days he was already wondering why she had gotten into Slytherin. She should have been a Ravenclaw with how interested she was in learning.

"Today we will be introducing ourselves to our partner's and doing some ice breakers like asking what their favorite color is, or their favorite food. Then I will hand out a planner to each couple and you can all start looking at dates for your upcoming nuptials. It might also be wise to plan other things like ring shopping, and dress shopping. Maybe how you will spend the holidays. Remember it is better to be prepared than to be unprepared and scared." She looked around the room waiting for people to start, "Hop to it then" she clapped her hands twice and the couples started talking.

"Well, she's so sweet she could just rot teeth couldn't she?" James smiled.

"James, don't talk about a professor that way in their class, even if they are annouyingly charming." She playfully slapped him on the chest. "I think it's best we get started."

"Fine, favorite color, go?" James asked smirking.

"I don't have one favorite color, but I love dusty blue, a pink rose color and mint green, yours?"

"Easy, I love the color white."

"White's not a color, it's the absence of color, it doesn't count." Lottie laughed.

"It totally counts."

"Fine, what's your favorite food, that isn't a dessert?"

"Woman, you dare ask me to choose a favorite food?" James pretended to be aghast, and Lottie laughed some more.

"Just answer the question."

"Fine, my favorite food is pumpkin bread."

"Ooh, I have the best recipe for Pumpkin bread, my elf Toppy used to make it all the time." Lottie smiled.

"I insist that you make me said pumpkin bread sometime, now what is your favorite food fair maiden?"

He watched as she blushed slightly, "I love peach tarts. Toppy used to slip me them under the table during dinner when my parents had requested something that I didn't like, such as liver and tripe."

"Well, it's good for you that I don't like liver and tripe." James smiled.

"Good," She smiled. She looked up, clearly thinking of the next question. "Okay, when is your birthday?"

"I turn 18 on September 21st, you?"

"August 18th, I turn 18 then."

The rest of their conversation went something like that, Lottie asking a question, and James making some kind of joke and then he would ask her a question. A half hour later Professor Plunkett had announced that she would be ending class early since there was good progress made, and that the homework for next week was to come up with a wedding date and a ring shopping date. And for some extra points, their plans for the holidays. She passed out a red leather planner to each couple and dismissed the class.

James and Lottie got up and met up with their friends. Lottie bid Sophie and Jackie a goodnight. And the group left after an awkward goodbye from David and Sophie. The group made their way to Gryffindor tower. As they got closer to their destination. James could tell that Lottie became more nervous. She began to need her hands together as she held onto the red planner that she clung to her chest.

They reached the portrait and Mike covered her ears as Pat said the password not that covering her ears stopped her from hearing it. But it did get her to laugh a little.

James waited for his friends to go through the portrait hole and finally when he was about to go through he turned to see Lottie who appeared to be hesitant to enter.

"Lottie, come on."

"Are you sure that it's alright for me to go in?" She unsurely looked at James.

"Yes it's perfectly fine, now let's go and meet my family." James smiled and grabbed her hand. He realized that her hand had fit perfectly in his own. She had soft skin, and it felt for some reason like he was always meant to hold her small hand in his. But he pushed those thoughts to the back of his mind as he led her through the portrait hole. _One thing at a time James, one thing at a time._

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><p>Please comment.<p>

Hope you enjoy

and until next time

MuggleWriter14


	10. Just a Little More Time

Thanks to all who reviewed. I am so glad that all of the reviews were positive. And I'm so glad that you guys like the story.

Let me know what you think...

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><p><strong>Just a Little Longer<strong>

She was holding her breath. She didn't realize how nervous she would be. To meet James's family, her family, well her future family. A million worries running through her head she was led through the small tunnel to the Gryffindor common room. With her hand still in his, Lottie allowed James to lead her through the warm colored common room. The walls had beautiful red wallpaper. The couches looked like you could sink in to them and never want to come out. The fireplace gave the room a feeling of warmth that made the room feel like it was alive.

"Lottie, wait here, I'm going to get my family, and I'll be back in a few minutes." She looked at James who was facing her

James motioned to a chair near the fireplace. She nodded and sat down in the overly large chairs. Realizing she was wrong, the chairs where even more comfortable than she had thought, she pulled her feet off the floor and tucked her feet under her thighs and curled into the chair. As she waited she began to need the fingers on her right hand and let her eyes wander taking in the foreign room. She had never felt this welcome in the Slytherin common room. It was cold and dark and everything was green, even the light. In here everything was warm and inviting.

After a few minutes she heard a group of people talking over each other, laughing merrily. The sounds of the group where getting closer. She turned around to see a group of redheads with a few blonds and brunettes scattered throughout the group approach her.

"Hey Charlie!" Fred Weasley rushed over and gave her a bear hug from behind. "So you're going to officially meet the family. Just remember that every single one of them is a nutter."

"Fred Weasley, stop telling lies." A beautiful girl with blond hair walked up to him and gave him a small shove towards the rest of the group. "Now go sit and be a good boy, or I will have to owl Aunt Angelina."

"Fine Dom." Fred winked and plopped down on the ground facing her a few feet away.

When the large group of people had settled down and where sitting across from her. James came over and sat down in the chair, forcing Lottie to move her legs so that they were flopped over James's lap.

"Okay, everyone, this is Lottie, she is my match." James stated assured.

"It's nice to meet all of you." Lottie smiled.

"So, Lottie, tell us about yourself." A girl with red hair and crystal blue eyes asked. "Oh, and I'm Rose."

"There's not much to tell." Lottie bit her lip quickly she could feel her body getting more and more anxious. "My full name is Charlotte Burke. I go by Lottie. I'm a Slytherin 7th year. I like reading, and I think school is fun. Oh, and I love muggle music. So much better than the rubbish wizards listen to."

"Really, you listen to muggle music?" A boy who looked like James but with green eyes instead of hazel asked.

"Al, don't be rude." Rose admonished.

"What bands do you listen to?" A blonde boy who looked about the same age as Al questioned.

"Well, I like lots of bands: The Script, Fallout Boy, Beatles, Owl City, The Weepies, and then there are the singles I like, honestly to get into all of the music I listen to would take hours."

"Well, I approve of anyone who listens to the Beatles and The Script." The blonde boy said leaning back in to the couch he was sitting on.

"I have a question." A young girl with red hair and brown eyes stood up and put her hands on her hips. She couldn't have been older than a third year. "What are your intentions with my brother?"

"Lily!" James stated aghast.

"No, James, I want to hear this too." Al agreed with Lily.

"It's fine James." Lottie put her hand on James's chest and smiled hoping to calm him down. "I'll answer, I know that this situation isn't ideal. In fact it kind of sucks for everyone. But I want to let you all know that I wouldn't intentionally hurt James. Wizard marriages are for life, so, it would be really hard if James and I weren't friends. So as of now, my intentions are to be James's friend."

"Just remember that if you hurt him I will hurt you." Lily pointed her finger at Lottie.

"Guys." James interrupted. "Look can you all take it easy."

"I think James is right. She's going to be family soon, no use in scaring her off." A girl with shoulder length dark reddish brown hair said. "Oh, and I'm Molly. I'm a fourth year and I just want to say that if you ever want to talk with someone about Pride and Prejudice, I'm all ears."

"How did you know about—" Lottie started to ask.

"James said that you dropped a book at the black lake the other day. He showed it to us saying he had to return it. Just for the heads up you have great taste." Rose explained.

The rest of the evening went similarly. The clan would ask her questions she would answer, and soon all of the awkwardness and worries left. Lottie felt herself relaxing, and every once in a while looking at James through the corner of her eyes to see him smile and laugh.

"Hey everyone, I need to go, down to the dungeons and all." Lottie said a few hours later, standing up. "Sorry to cut tonight short but I need to get to bed so I can get my homework done tomorrow."

"You do homework on Saturday?" Fred put his hand on his chest and gasped earning a slap to the head from the blonde girl named Dominique.

"Shut up Fred, just because you don't do homework on Saturdays, or ever for that matter, doesn't mean that other people cant." Lily admonished.

"Lily's right, and Lottie if you wait here for a moment. I will be right back down to escort you to the Slytherin common room." As soon as James had said it, he dashed up to the stairs, presumably to grab something from his room.

The rest of the clan started getting up from their sitting places and where coming up to her ad giving her hugs. Bidding her a goodnight and welcoming her to the family. Lottie tried to not show it. But all of the happiness and love in the room was overwhelming. Her family wasn't anywhere near as openly loving as the Potter and Weasley family was. It was somewhat offputting. However, getting a happy loving family was better than a cold one. As Fred, being the last person to say goodnight to her was starting up the stairs to his room, she saw James come down the stairs with a piece of shimmery old cloth.

"You all set?" He asked.

"Sure, lead the way." Lottie motioned to the portrait hole. The two walked through the short tiny hallway to the portrait. James opened the door stepping out of the hallway. Lottie following suit.

"So, now you've met my crazy family." James started walking towards the dungeons.

"Yep." Lottie answered.

"I'm sorry about the whole 'you hurt him, I hurt you' thing."

"James, it's not a problem. Don't worry about it. I think it's sweet."

"You do?" James asked surprised.

"Yes, they love you enough that they want to protect you. It's nice."

"Yeah I guess so. Well, it is better than when you will meet the rest of the family. Just be prepared for all hell to break loose. My aunts will all be gushing over you. My uncles will be cracking jokes at my expense. My grandmother will be trying to force feed you. And my parents, who knows what the hell they will do." James chuckled. "What about your family?"

"What about them?" Lottie looked at her feet.

"I mean what are they like, have you told them yet?"

"Uhm," Lottie looked around the mostly barren hallway filled with sleeping portraits. Looking at a window she suddenly gasped. "James, did you notice that tonight is a full moon. Don't you think that full moons are beautiful?"

"Lottie, is your family really that bad." Furrowing his eyebrows.

"No." Lottie answered quickly. "They're, I mean. It's complicated." She groaned.

"So you're not going to say anything?" James was clearly beginning to feel insulted.

"No, I am. I just need to figure out how." Lottie stated. "My family isn't as open to things like this as yours is, and I need to figure out how to tell them gently without them storming the castle and demanding this law be revoked."

"Fine. Just make sure that you tell them before the holidays. And here is some advice, you can take it or leave it. Just tell them who you got paired with before they hear it from someone else. I'm owling my parents in the morning, just because it's the first time I've gotten free to owl them a letter."

"I will it's, it's, it will happen soon." Lottie stammered out.

The rest of the walk to the dungeon was relatively quiet, once she reached the black wooden door to the common room she bid James a goodnight and muttered the password before slipping in. She rushed to her room, and got ready for bed. Making sure to turn the water temperature to almost scalding on her shower. She needed the relaxation. Getting in to bed she debated the pros and cons of telling her parents. Finally deciding to hold off for a while she let sleep take her.

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A few days had passed when the conversation came up again at breakfast at the Ravenclaw table.

"So I got a letter back from my sister." Jackie announced suddenly. "She said she wants to meet Corey over the holidays. And my grandma says she wants to see how hunky he is."

"Really? That's great Jackie." Lottie stated smiling at her friend, "Have you talked to Corey yet?"

"No, just got the letter this morning. I was going to ask him at our next Marriage Law class."

"Cool, I just sent my letter this morning. David and I met up and wrote them together." Soph stated. "We decided that we might as well bite the bullet together. Not that either of our families will be angry. Mine might ruminate over the fact that he isn't Italian or a Ravenclaw but tough beans for them."

"I haven't told my parents anything yet." Lottie looked at her plate. "I want to pretend that they won't disown me for marrying a Potter for at least a few more days."

"Oh, sweetie, I, uh, does James know this?" Jackie put her hand on Lottie's.

"He knows that I haven't mailed them yet. I don't think he's too happy about it, seeing I've met his family and all. But he doesn't know about the way my parents are. In fact I almost wish I didn't have to tell him."

"Have you mailed Toppy yet?" Soph asked.

"I've started dozens of letters, but every time I get close to finishing one, I stop. I can't risk my parents finding or intercepting the letter."

"Lottie, you have to tell them." Soph said, Jackie nodding approvingly.

"I know. But can't I just pretend that they died in an accident and call it good?" Lottie looked up at her friends.

"We won't force you to do it, but for your sake, just write the letter before the next Marriage Law class. And you don't have to tell James anything yet about your family. But he's going to find out eventually, it would be best to tell him."

"Fine, I'll think about it." Lottie finally agreed. And the girls went back to a more heated debate about who would look funnier in a dress Professor Flitwick or Professor Longbottom.

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Later that night Lottie sat in her secluded corner of the library, biting the end of her quill. A blank piece of parchment lying flat on the table in front of her. _They're going to hate me._ She would think._ But when has that stopped me before?_ She reasoned. _Not that I ever actively tried to defy them, in fact I have never defied them. _She sighed and slumped deeper into her hard wooden chair. _But it wasn't my fault that this happened. But maybe it is because I'm not the perfect daughter that got matched with a pureblood Slytherin…_

Lottie had been going back and forth on how to start a letter to her parents for several hours. She had watched as the sun had set, and had decided to skip dinner. She didn't want to deal with the repercussions of telling her parents. She knew they weren't going to be happy. In fact, it was unfair of James to ask her to deal with this problem so abruptly, why couldn't he understand that his family was so much more accepting than hers. She pursed her lips, and biting her bottom lip she turned her head so it was looking at the ceiling. She huffed.

"Screw it." She said abruptly as she sat up in her chair and began to write.

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><p>Review<br>Favorite  
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MuggleWriter14


	11. Liar's Can't be Trusted

Hey all so here is the update.

This chapter definitely ups the drama by like ten.

I received a question about the age group for the pairings of my characters. I would like to say that I had not thought further about the age of my matches, which are based on personality, hopes, dreams and genetic capability. I guess my answer as to why there are not any pairings at Hogwarts with people of different ages is merely because you don't know all of the parings that I have made. Some of the other characters who are not as important to this part of the story are with people older. I just haven't included it yet.

Other than that I guess enjoy, and I would like to dedicate this chapter to my sister who just got a position as the stage manager for one of the many high school plays. I am so proud and excited that she is living the dream ;)

This chapter has been updated, and I would like to tell everyone that they should comment, and let me know what they think

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><p>It had been almost a week since James and Lottie's, "almost" fight. Well, it technically wasn't a fight. There wasn't yelling, and, well bugger, it was a fight. But at least James was confident that the topic of conversation would be taken care of immediately. He hoped. Honestly he wondered why she had been so scared to tell her parents that they were matched. Honestly it wasn't like they had a choice, and he doubted they were really that bad. From what he heard, her father hadn't been a death eater, so that was a good start. He thought, well, hoped, well, at least he didn't have the tattoo. Not that it said that much anyway, lots of people agreed with, him, and didn't have the tattoo—it was probably a good time to stop over thinking the conversation.<p>

James shook the thoughts out of his head as he regained his focus on his Potions essay, which was supposed to be 16 inches on the reactive ingredients of the drought of living death and how the celestial calendar affected the potencies of said ingredients. At this point he was dragging his feet on the assignment. He was on his first and last revision of the essay, and once he finished, he and Lottie would be working on their homework for their Marriage Law class. The two of them where currently sitting in an alcove of the library, and in an hour or so, James would have to leave for Quidditch practice which would be going from noon until dinner time. For James it was a matter of securing his four-year reign as Gryffindor Quidditch captain as a dynasty for Gryffindor Quidditch. After staring at the same word for five minutes straight however, James decided that it was time for him to be done with his crackpot of a Potions essay.

"Lottie?" He leaned over the table, folding his arms and resting his chin on his hands.

"Yes?" Her eyes remaining trained on her work.

"I think it's time we got all of our Life Class homework out of the way." He looked up at her and smiled. Her blue eyes rolled at him and she gave him a smirk and looked down at the homework she was doing, and bit her lip in thought. After a moment she made a large huffing noise, put her work down and gave him a wry smile.

"Alright then," She leaned over and dug through her bag for a moment before pulling out the small planner book that each couple had been provided. She placed it on the table, opened it, and flipped through some pages before getting to their week. Dipping her quill in ink she wrote under the box for that day that they had done the assignment. "Ok, so for the next class we need to plan a date for the wedding, come up with a ring shopping date, and if we can, come up with a schedule for the holidays."

"Great, well, I honestly wouldn't care about the date of the wedding, as long as it isn't too early or too late. For ring shopping though, I would like to possibly do it in early December." James began to babble.

"I'm perfectly fine with getting rings in December, it might be nice too, because Christmas time shopping is always the most fun." She turned the pages of the planner to December and looked at the dates. "Well, it looks like Professor Plunkett took the liberty of writing down the Hogsmeade dates for us. And it looks like we have a day on the 6th to go," she looked up from the book, "would that be alright with you?"

"That would be more than alright with me. Write it down." James smiled as Lottie wrote down the date in the calendar.

"Now on to the wedding date, I think that it wouldn't do to have the wedding too early on. I think that for that reasoning only we should cross off every month until February, and then of course we need to get married by the end of May, so that leaves: February, March, April, and most of May." Lottie listed all of the months on her fingers.

"Can we scratch out February, I'm not too keen on the idea of getting married in the month of love. Not to bash the month but, I think it might be kind of corny." James stated, and Lottie nodded.

"No, I agree, I think February doesn't feel right for us given the circumstances, and while we're at it, I would like to eliminate April. April always has a nasty habit of raining all the time and making everything muddy and gross." Lottie inquired as she placed her hands on the desk, clamped together her right thumb rubbing across the side of her left index finger.

"I'm ok with that," James sighed loudly, "So that leaves March or May."

James looked at Lottie who seemed to be deep in thought, as she was looking into the distance and biting her bottom lip. She slowly moved her arms so that they were now crossed in front of her. Leaning back into her seat she nodded her head in concession to her thought.

"How about May?" She asked still looking into the distance.

"Well, don't you think it might be too late?"

"I think it's better than March." She stated flatly, she turned her gaze to him and smiled. "If you think about it, it does make sense. There are two perfectly good weekends before the deadline, most of our friends will have already gotten married. Since school will be almost over we can wait to go on a proper honeymoon trip after school ends and before we start any training for work. Plus, the trees are budding and there are flowers, the weather is reliable so it won't be too hot or too cold, plus you can count on there not being a lot of rain or melting snow so that means we can have an outdoors wedding, which is what I was thinking would be nice anyways."

"Well, May it is." James sat up in his seat clapped his hands and rubbed them together a few times. "Which day do you want?"

"How about the 14th, it's the second week of May and it's still not too close to the deadline. So we have some breathing room."

"It's settled then, the 14th of May it is." Lottie flashed him a brilliant smile as she wrote the date down in the calendar.

"Alright then, how about we skip the extra credit part, the holiday stuff. I need to talk to my parents about their plans and everything, they were wondering if you would mind staying for some or all of break at my house, but they don't want to take your time away from your family or anything. And I want to give you the chance to hear back from your parents about everything. Plus, you would also need to contact your parents as we—" James was interrupted.

"Oh, well, actually, I already talked to them and I—we were thinking that I could go to your holiday things because my brother and his wife where planning on going on a trip, and my parents, they were thinking we could maybe just plan something simple with them like having brunch or something one day. But if I went to your place or something, it would also give us the chance to look at some housing for after Hogwarts. Especially since we will be leaving on our honeymoon almost directly after the year is ending, I don't think we will have a lot of time to look." Lottie looked almost nervous about the conversation, and also quick to change the subject, maybe a little too quick. But James dropped those thoughts quickly in his mind.

"Alright, I am sure that it would be more than fine. So we can just plan for you to come to my house and we will come up with some times to meet with your parents." James smiled at her looking into her eyes noticing how pretty her eyes where, earning a blush from Lottie.

"Ok, I think that this is all set so," She looked away quick and tucked a loose curl behind her ear.

"Yeah, since that's all, I should probably leave to go to practice." James stood to leave, packed his things into his bag quickly and through his bag over his shoulder. "I'll see you later."

"Yeah, I'll see you." Lottie nodded and smiled. James then started walking away, and soon he was out of the library, swirling thoughts of Quidditch, weddings and homework flew through his mind. And somewhere in the back of his mind was the image of the blood rushing to Charlotte's cheeks tinging them pink. As he walked through the hallways to his common room, he decided that he liked making her blush.

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"Oi! Weasley! Finnegan! Keep the bloody bludger's in control!" James yelled as he was sitting on his broom running a new play with his team. Thing one and thing two (a.k.a, Fred and Pat) where not making things easier, with almost hitting both David and Millie who oddly enough where the only two players not meant to have bludger's hurled at them.

"Sorry! Missed my opening!" Pat yelled back from across the pitch speeding towards another bludger.

James shook his head and smiled. This had been the first problem that the team had all season. Honestly they were playing like a well-oiled machine, and for this play, it was brand new and also a highly risky and time sensitive one that he and Anthony, who was good at everything quidditch except for the actual playing part, had developed. And honestly his team was doing good with such a difficult play. While James was looking at how his chasers where weaving in and around each other, he didn't notice that two of his least favorite people had approached. And it wasn't until they took the spot on the stands that where directly behind him.

"Potter." A brutish Slytherin with yellow hair sneered.

"Potter." The other equally thuggish twin stated.

"Rowle, and Rowle." James said with indifference, refusing to turn around. Prefering to watch as his team worked.

"So, we noticed that you were pared with that bitch Burke" Finbar Rowle stated deepening his already apparent smirk.

"Yeah, that bitch." Finbar's identical but more dimwitted brother Kirkland repeated.

"I said that you twit." Admonished Finbar, who rolled his eyes.

"Hey, watch your mouth you nitwits." James sneered at the two Slytherins.

By that point other players on the Gryffindor team noticed the two Slytherin 7th years and had started to fly over. All of whom where trying to figure out what the two boys where doing here, and why their captain seemed to be so agitated by their presence.

"James?" Pat flew as to sit directly next to James who was now starting to turn around.

"What are these two idiots doing here?" David stated with a frown on his face.

"Nothing they were just leaving." James's eyes narrowed at the twins sharing evil looks before him.

"Fine, we'll leave. But I just wanted to say that I'm sorry." Finbar held his hands up in the air.

"Yeah, sorry!" Kirkland burst out in a mean tone and then chuckled.

"For what bozos?" Fred chimed in obviously done with the two of them leading things on longer than they should be.

"Well, because Burke's a liar," Finbar paused. "Don't you wonder why she has been so apt to change conversation when she talks about her family."

"She said she took care of it, so I don't know what you are going on about Rowle, but this it out of line and as for the two of you, you need to learn to mind your own buisne—" James moved closer to the twins on his broom.

"Oh shut up Potter, it's obvious that she is too ashamed of you and doesn't have the guts to tell her parents. Actually, I guess I would be too embarrassed too, if I was her."

"Yeah disappointed." Kirkland added clearly feeling smart. And everyone looked at him, James with an eyebrow raised.

"Wow, ok, I don't know what you are talking about but—" Pat started clapping his hands together.

"Don't get started Finnegan, Potter knows exactly what we're talking about. Doesn't he?" Finbar smirked. "Well, my work here is done, see you in the halls Potter."

"Yeah, the halls."

"Kirk come," Finbar barked at his brother as he was trying to leave. After tweedle dumb and tweedle dumber had left James had a hard time getting back into the quidditch frame of mind. Even as he barked out drills to his team, he found that his mind began to wander and question Lottie, she had seemed tense, and she never came right out and told him that she had sent anything to his parents until he brought it up. Maybe she was lying, well, no, that seemed unfair, maybe she was nervous about how her parents were taking the news.

"James, mate, they always push buttons, don't let them get to you." Dave stated flying over to his friend. "And since when has Charlotte done anything to tell you that she would be untrustworthy."

"Yeah," James sighed, "you're right."

"I always am," Dave smirked at him, causing the corners of James's mouth to perk up ever so slightly.

"That's true," James stopped for a moment, "but that doesn't make you any less of a cocky bastard."

"See there is the James I know and love," Dave playfully punched James's arm.

"Yeah, yeah, now get back to work Willis."

"Yes sir Captain sir" Dave saluted him and headed back to the goals.

However, even David's talk seemed to do little to calm the storm currently forming in James's mind. In fact, it was so bad that he ended practice early, which never happened. Normally, James would make practice run over, just because he loved being out on his broom and would forget to keep the time. He walked ahead of the team to the locker rooms and James quickly changed out of his Quidditch robes and meandered back to the castle alone, choosing to take the long way to his dorm. Trying to convince himself that the was just overthinking things and that Lottie had never given him any reason to doubt her. It was crazy, he was crazy for thinking this way, there was no way that she was lying to him. No, not possible. Before turning the corner to the hallway near the library he stopped cold in his tracks and pressed his back up against the corner.

"Soph, what am I going to do, he wants to meet my parents." He heard an exasperated Lottie plead with her friend.

"I told you Lottie, you needed to tell them when this happened your just digging yourself in a deeper hole."

"But Soph, I've never had something to tell my parents that would defy them, well, I mean, I've defied them, but they never found out about it."

"What am I supposed to say Char?"

"I don't know." He heard Lottie sigh. "I just hope James doesn't find out until I have a chance to tell them, I mean, he thinks I've told them already. But I can't. They won't understand, and Soph, they're going to kill me, they intended for me to be advantageous for them, now that I am not a possibility anymore, they have no use for me. I can't tell them, I just can't."

"Char?" Her friend scolded.

"I know, I know, you think I should tell them, but, I—is there, I just, is there any way to say that they died?" Sophia put her hand on Lottie's shoulder in a comforting manner.

"No I—" Soph was abruptly cut off.

"I don't know Lottie, I would say that is being dishonest and would totally be going against what you told me." James came from around the corner, folding his arms over his chest, his eyes narrowing at her. He was now unable to take any more of this betrayal of trust. How dare she think that she could lie to him.

"JAMES!" Lottie screeched going pale as a ghost, Sophia's jaw went slack as she stared at James with a shocked expression.

"I—I'm just going to go." Sophia caught herself, looking at James and Lottie staring at each other, and as quickly as she said that she left hurrying down the hallway.

"Why? Why did you lie to me?" James accused Lottie.

"James, I never meant—" Lottie snapped out of her state of shock and started walking towards James until he cut her off abruptly.

"No, don't you get it, you did it, you, you, you. You know what. I'm glad I got to see the real you, at least now I know who I will be forced to marry." He sneered at her.

"You don't mean that."

"Oh, don't I? I introduced you to my family, I put myself out there, and you, you led me on." He yelled and Lottie looked at the ground nodded and looked back up to him.

"I'm sorry—" He could see the tears in her eyes and he saw as she began to knead her hands together.

"I don't want your apology. Clearly you don't care about the fact that I gave a lot. You just cared about yourself. Did you even once think that this could affect me? Did you?" he looked at her with intent searching her eyes for anything.

"I—" she began to stutter out.

"Just stop, you lied to me, I may have to marry you, but I will never trust you, not anymore." He couldn't take it anymore.

"James!" He heard Lottie yell after him as he began to turn to leave.

And with that James stormed off, ignoring the sobs he could hear behind him. How dare she, how dare she toy with him. And to think he even started to think that this wasn't the worst thing to have ever happened to him, well, it was no use anymore, he was over it, indifferent, he didn't care anymore, he was over her. And yet he couldn't stop the feeling of something punching a hole through his heart.

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MuggleWriter 14


	12. Important Notice

So I know I haven't been good about updating. I had planned on updating next week. I have had a really busy semester, and I have been reworking the last chapter because i realized after posting that i was not happy with it... However, I will now be updating over winter break, there has recently been a loss in my family and i do not have the mental availability to work on the story for a while. I am so sorry again for everyone who has waited for an update i feel horrible about not being more attentive.

And thank you for understanding and for all of your guys's interest and love for my story.

Mugglewriter14


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